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TESTIMONIALS. 

From the Right Rev. ike Bishop of Charleston, July 8, 1837. 
" I 1)0 not knoiv a more useful book for Ireland, or for the vindication of Catholics, 
than the Vindicise Hibernica;." 

Extract from the Jlnalectic Magazine, Vol. iii. p. 417. 

"This publication contains a most intercstirig and curious picture of the syste- 
matic rapine and misrepresentatioii ivhich the Irish have endured at the hands of 
the govcrn?nent and ivriters of Efigland ; and at the same ti?ne, a conclusive re- 
futation of the most serious and injurious charge, xvhich has rested on the national 
character of Ireland. 

" To every student of the annals of Ireland, therefore, we may safely recom- 
mendthe luork of Mr. Carey, as essential to a right understanding of her story." 

Extract of a letter from the Hoju James Madison, Feb. 11, 1820. 
■' I have dipped enough into your researches and observations, to be satisfied of 
your success, in showing that the Irish nation has been as much traduced by the 
pen of history, as it has been scourged by the rod of po~wer." 

Extract of a letter from Rev. Mattheiv Carr, D.D., dated March 15, 1819, 
" I do thank you most cordially, for your most excellent and irrefragable Vindicise 
Hibernicffi. You may with justly merited satisfaction, say, ' Exegi monumentiim 
sere perennius^ Please to accept of this acknowledgment, until I am able to wait 
on you, and renew it in the warmest manner." 

Extract of a letter from the Right Rev. IVm. Coppinger, Rishop of Cloyne, to 
the iiev. Wm. Taylor, of Boston, dated Cove of Cork, May 1, 1821. 
" The Vindicice Hibernicse was highly acceptable, and I think will do considera- 
ble service to the Catholic cause, both in America and at home. I am tempted to 
write to Mr. Carey, to offer Jiim a tri bute of applause for his zealous, spirited, and 
ujians-werable exposition of our rvroiigs. and to suggest the expediency of either 
a reprint of that work, or a large exportation of his own edition into England and 
Ireland." 

Extract of a letter from J. K. Paulding, Esq., dated Washiiigton, 20th April, 

1819. 
" Your countrymen owe you their gratitude for the labour and research which 
furnished you with the materials to vindicate their fame, and for the manly and 
feeling manner in which you have availed yourself of them." 

Extract of a letter from T. W. Tone, Esq., I3th April, 1819, 
" I have read your Vindicise through with delight. It will be one of the favourite 
books of my library. The mass of authority introduced is irresistible : and the 
singularity of taking it all from British writers, although you thereby sacrifice a 
most valuable and interesting mass of proof, certainly adds to the clear conviction 
which your work must carry to the mind and breast of every candid reader. Your 
style is always clear, and has frequently the eloquence which comes from the 
heart." 

Extract of a letter from W. .T. Mac J\'evin, M. D., dated J^ew York, April 12, 

1819, 
" I have finished a careful perusal of your Vindicise with the highest gratification. 
You have victoriously proved all your positions, and not only vindicated our 
native country, but fixed an indelible stigma on her oppressors. There is a tone 
of defiance and recrimination in what you write, that was called for in a vindica- 
tion ; that becomes a freeman ; and that is scarcely separable from virtue and a 
deep sense of human rights. Those feelings have made you eloquent. Indeed, / 
think this book does more for its purpose tliun any other extant, audit richly enti- 
tles you to the tlianks of every lover of Ireland, and indeed every lover of truth 
and humajiity of a7iy country." 



VINDICIiE HIBERNICiE; 

OK, 

IRELAND VINDICATED: 

AN ATTEMPT TO DEVELOP AND EXPOSE A FEW OP 

THE MULTIFARIOUS ERRORS AND MISREPRESENTATIONS 
RESPECTING IRELAND, 

IN THE HISTORIES OP 

MAY, TEMPLE, WHITELOCK, BORLACE, RUSHWORTH, CLARENDON, COX, 
CARTE, LELAND, WARNER, MACAULEY, HUME, AND OTHERS : 

PARTICULARLY IN 

THE LEGENDARY TALES 

OP 

THE PRETENDED CONSPIRACY AND MASSACRE OF 1641. 



BY M. CAREY, 

»IXMB£Il OF THE AMEUICAlSr PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETT, AND OF THE AMERICAN 
AlTTiatTABIAN SOCIETT, AtlTHOK OF THE OLIVE BUANCH, ETC., ETC. 



THmD EDITION, ENLARGED AND IMPROVED. 



I can truly say, that of all the papers I have blotted, which have been a good deal in my time, I 
have never written anything for the public without the intention of some public good. Whether 
I have succeeded or not, is not my part to judge.— Sir William Temple. 

There is not a national feeling that has not been insulted and trodden underfoot; a national 
right that has not been withheld, until fear forced it from the grasp of England; or a dear or ancient 
prejudice that has not been violated, in that abused country. As Christians, the people of Ireland 
have been denied, under penalties and disq<ialifications, the exercise of the rites of the Catholic 
religion, venerable for its antiquity ; admirable for its unity ; and consecrated by the belief of some of 
the best men that ever breathed. As men, they have been deprived of the common rights of British 
subjects, under the pretext that they were incapable of enjoying thera: which pretext had no other 
foundation than their resistance of oppression, only the more severe by being sanctioned by the 
laws. England first denied them the means of improvement ; and then insulted them with the imptitation 
of barbarism. — PAnLDiNO. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

R. P. DESILVER, 255 MARKET STREET. 



18'37. 






1^3 7 



Entered according to act of congress, in the year 1837, 

BY R. P. DESILVER, 

in the clerk's office of the district court for the eastern district of Pennsylvania. 



Haswell, Barrington, and Haswell, 
Printers. 






TO 

THOSE SUPERIOR SPIRITS 

WHO 

SCOBJV THE YOKE 

OF 

FRAUD, IMPOSTURE, BIGOTRY, AND DELUSION; 

WHO, 

^t tiie Sacrrtr Sftiiuc of ^nttH, 

WILL OFFER UP THEIR PREJUDICES, 

HOW INVETERATE SOEVER, 

WHEN HER BRIGHT TORCH ILLUMINATES THEIR MINDS; 

WHO, 
POSSESSING THE INESTIMABLE BLESSINGS 

OF 

THRICE -HOLY AND REVERED LIBERTY, 

ACQUIRED BY AN ARDUOUS STRUGGLE 

AGAINST A MERE INCIPIENT DESPOTISM, 

WILL SYMPATHIZE WITH THOSE 

WHO CONTENDED ARDENTLY, ALTHOUGH UNSUCCESSFULLY, 

AGAINST AS GRIEVOUS AN OPPRESSION 

AS EVER PRESSED TO THE EARTH 

A NOBLE AND GENEROUS NATION, 

- WHICH EMBARKED IN THE SAME GLORIOUS CAUSE 

AS LEONIDAS, EPAMINONDAS, BRUTUS, THE PRINCE OF 

ORANGE, WILLIAM TELL, FAYETTE, HANCOCK, 

ADAMS, FRANKLIN, AND 

WASHINGTON, 

THIS WORK IS DEDICATED. 



IT IS LIKEWISE DEDICATED TO 

THE IMMORTAL MEMORY OF 

THE DESMONDS, THE O'NIALS, THE O'DONNELS, THE O'MOORES, 
THE PRESTONS, THE MOUNTGARRETS, 
THE CASTLEHAVENS, THE FITZGERALDS, THE SHEARESES, 
THE TONES, THE EMMETTS, 



THE MYRIADS OF ILLUSTRIOUS IRISHMEN, 

WHO SACRIFICED LIFE OR FORTUNE 

IN THE 

UNSUCCESSFUL EFFORT TO EMANCIPATE A COUNTRY 

ENDOWED BY HEAVEN 
WITH AS MANY AND AS CHOICE BLESSINGS 

AS ANY PART OF THE TERRAQUEOUS GLOBE, 

. BUT, FOR AGES, 

^ "^optltm antr ^tlpltUB Wittxm 

TO 

A FORM OF GOVERNMENT 

TRANSCENDENTLY PERNICIOUS. 

Philadelphia, March 1819. 



Iv. 



'^'m^: 



i'fi 






'^ 1 1 M. y 



SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. 



IRELAND. 
Dublin. — John Maguire. 

Thomas SuHivan. 
UPPER CANADA. 
King'st07i. — A. Monahan, 3 copies. 

MAINE. 
Augusta. — Gilbert O'Reily. 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
Boston. — Edward Connelly. 

P. Mooney, 10 copies. 

Francis Humphreys. 

Edward Quinn. 

Patrick A. O'Neil. 

Nicholas Barret. 

Stephen J. Rogers. 

James Keating. 

Michael Hughes. 

Thomas O'Hara. 

James Costello. 

Daniel M'Ginley. 

Michael Flynn. 

Robert M'Cann. 

William M'Nemara. 

Edward Reid. 

Charles M'Elhannan. 

Daniel M'llroy. 

James Shields. 

Henry Farrell. 

Dennis O'Donnell. 

John Grant. 

Michael Kelleher. 

Patrick Riley. 

Patrick Phillips.' 

Daniel M'Queeney. 

Philip A. Kirk. 

Patrick O'Donnell. 

Charles Gorman. . 

James D. Fitzgerald. 

Edward Skelly. 

Edward Cranny. 

Nicholas W. Ryan. 

Owen M'Cosker. 

Arthur Killan. 

George Wyllie. 

Owen Monaghan. 



Daniel Quigley. 
William Simmons. 
Richard Whittey. 
Patrick Lyons. 
John Starkcy. 
Mic. H. Hutchinson. 
Nicholas Bard. 
Rev, Michael Haley. 
Patrick Comerford. 
Richard Lanergan. 
Edmund Murphy. 
Daniel M'Laughlin. 
Michael Collins. 
James Sullivan. 
Charlestoivn. — Rev. P. Byrne. 

Sandwich. — Rev, John Brady, 3 cop. 
Roxbury. — Richard White. 
Loivell. — Michael Dhlenthy. 
RHODE ISLAND. 
Providence. — Bernard Green. 

D. O'Con. M'Carthy. 
James M'Carthy. 
Michael Williams. 
Matthew Green. 
Dennis Dunn. 
Arthur Carrell. 
Matthew Paterson. 
James Doran. 
Patrick Fries. 
Mark Malaskery. 
Charles Masterson. 
John Emmet. 
NEW YORK. 
City JV. York. — James Conley. 
Wm. Costegan. 
Charles Donnelly. 
Jilbany. — Rev. John Kelly, 6 cop. 
Rev. Michael Heas. 
Thomas Noonam. 
William Cooney. 
James Galligan. 
Dion. B. Gafthey. 
James M'Nulty. 
Peter Caggar. 
Robert L. Kearney. 



SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. 



.^'' 



\ 



Henry Cassidy. 
James Mahcr. 
Peter G, Doyle. 



Lansin^burg. — Keating Rawson. 

Tr.oy. — St. Peter's Library, 2 
copies. 
Timothy Kelly. 
Patrick Purcell. 
Saratoga Sp, — John Costigan. 
John Kelly. 
PENNSYLVANIA. 
Philadelphia. — Right Rev. F. Kenrick, 

5 copies. 

Rev, Mr. Hughes, 20 

copies. 
Rev. Michael Hurley, 

6 copies. 
Robert Ewing. 

J. M'Donough, 2 

copies. 
Eugene Cummiskey, 

50 copies. 
Michael M'Makin, 
Thomas Cahill. 
Edward Hanley. 
Robert F. Walsh. 
Thomas A. Edvi^ards. 
John Bell, M.D. 
John Diamond. 
James M'AUister. 
William Murtha. 
T. P. Benjamin. 
Michael Magrath. 
Pittsburg. — Rev. Thomas Heyden. 

MARYLAND. 
JBaltimore. — Most Rev. S. Eccleston, 
Rev. J. Elder, 2 copies. 
L. Tiernaii, 40 copies. 
SOUTH CAROLINA. 
Charleston. — Right Rev. Bishop 
England, 6 copies. 
LOUISIANA. 
JVew Orleans. — Rev. A. Kindelon, 4 
copies. 
W. F. C. Duplesses, 
2 copies. 



S. Blossman. 
D. E. Hayden. 
James Mooney. 
Charles F. Daunoy. 
Josias E. Ker. 
S. M. M'Kay. 
C. M'Millen. 
James Roach. 
Thomas Walsh. 
P. P. Rea. 
William Jones. 
J. A. M'Kay. 
W. E. Kennedy. 
Hon. J. Bermudez. . 
C. Roselius. 
Thomas Duplessis. 
Thomas M'Laughlin. 
Gustavo Le Gardeur, 
CorneHus Cahill. 
Nicholas C. Tobin. 
Michael Kearney. 
John W. Ennis. 
Owen D. Egan. 
Louis Booth. 
Hillary B. Cenas. 
B, Mullen. 
A. Magnin. 
Richard Salter. 
J. P. Benjamin. 
Hughes Pedesclann. 
Peter Deverges. 
John C. Prendergast. 
Patrick Ryan. 
Richard M. Carter. 
A. D. Doriocourt. 
Thomas Barrett. 
James W. Byrne. 
William Canton. 
James W. Zacharie. 
W. L. Giles. 
John Macready. 
William Carly. 
Jolm Magennis. 
Philip Harty, or 
Hon. B. C. Elliott. 



PREFACE 



TO THIS THIRD EDITION. 



Philadelphia, May 5, 1837. 

Dissatisfied with the mean appearance of the second edition of this 
work, in point of paper and printing, and also with the mal-arrange- 
ment of the materials, and being, moreover, desirous to leave it to 
my descendants in a more satisfactory form, I determined, some time 
since, at the advanced age of seventy-six, though totally blind of one 
eye, and obliged to be careful of its more fortunate neighbour, to 
prepare for the press a third improved edition, and to undertake the 
arduous labour of verifying all the quotations, no less than 1143 in 
number. My first idea was to publish it myself; but I soon found 
that this plan would be irksome and vexatious, and unsuitable to my 
present situation, having retired from business several years since. I 
therefore made over the copy-right to Mr. R. P. Desilver, engaging 
to purchase from him one hundred copies at retail price, (that is, to 
pay him $250 for the hundred copies on delivery,) and guarantee 
him from loss by an edition of 500 copies. On these terms alone would 
he undertake the work.* 

Measuring the zeal and national feeling of others by my own, I had 
no hesitation in agreeing to this arrangement. I presumed, and surely 
it was not irrational, that an edition of 500 copies would be easily 
disposed of in our four great cities ;t as I confidently hoped for the 

* The subscriber deems it but justice to himself to state, that in the profit of 
this work, should it be profitable, he has not the smallest interest whatever — but is 
answerable for the loss, should loss arise, as will most certainly be the case. 
This must appear by an extract from his contract with Mr. Desilver. 

Extract from a contract between R. P. Desilver and M. Carey, of the city of 
Philadelphia. 

1. M. Carey hereby transfers to R. P. Desilver the copy-right of a work, entitled 
Vindicise Hibernicae. 

2. He engages to prepare the copy for the press, and to revise the proof sheets, 
free of expense to R. P. Desilver. 

3. He engages, on the receipt of one hundred copies of the work, handsomely 
bound in boards, to pay R, P. Desilver two hundred and fifty dollars, the amount 
of the copies at retail price. 

4. He further guarantees to R. P. Desilver the entire expense of an edition of five 
hundred copies, including the above sum of two hundred and fifty dollars. 

5. R. P. Desilver pledges himself to have the work handsomely printed on fine 
paper. 

M. CAREY. 

■j- How miserably mistaken I was in this calculation, appears from the fact, that 
in the city of New York, there are but three, and in Baltimore the same number 
of individual subscribers. In these two cities there are probably 50,000 Irish or descen- 
dants of Irishmen, of whom two thirds at least are Roman Catholics ! The Rev. Mr. 

1 



2 PREFACE. 

co-operation of influential and distinguished Irish Catholics in this 
country, particularly dignitaries of the church, whose elevated situa- 
tion in life would have enabled them, were they willing, to aid effec- 
tually in extending the circulation of this work. But grievously was I 
mortified and disappointed. The utter indiflerence of those gentlemen 
on the subject is truly unaccountable. Not one of the dignitaries in 
question ever condescended to answer my letters.* Of wealthy lay- 
men, one only, Luke Tiernan, Esq. of Baltimore, took that interest in 
the book which its subject and object ought to have excited generally 
among Irish Catholics. He subscribed and paid for forty copies at 
retail price; the Rev. Mr. Hughes subscribed for twenty. To those 
gentlemen I present my sincere thanks. Such has been the issue, ou 
tliis side of the Atlantic, of my dependence on persons in elevated 
situations. 

I expected a more favourable result in the British dominions, where 
such a work is incomparably more necessary than in the United States ; 
as the inveterate prejudices, engendered by the calumnies which are 
fully disproved in the Vindiciae Hibernicae, although here confined to 
the very ignorant and very superstitious, and possessing little power 
to do mischief, still retain their fell, malignant influence there, on the 
minds of thousands and tens of thousands, and call into ferocious 
activity some of the worst passions of our nature. Of course, I 
should have supposed, that in those islands, few Roman Catholics 
could be found, who, even if destitute of every spark of national 
feeling, would, from mere motives of self-interest and sound policy, 
be indifl^erent to the success of a work calculated to eradicate such 
pernicious impressions, by which they are all more or less affected in 
their intercourse with society. 

But my disappointment there was far greater than even in this 
country — for to this hour, no encouragement whatever, except two 
subscriptions, has been experienced. Months have elapsed since I 
wrote, with a prospectus, to the Right Hon. Spring Rice, the Hon. 
Daniel O'Connell, the Hon. R. Shiel, the Editor of the Dublin 
Review, and, though last, not least, to the Most Rev. Daniel Murray, 
D. D., Archbishop of Dublin. From the first I received a brief billet, 
merely acknowleflging the receipt of some pamphlets, which I had 
sent him, but entirely silent as to this work. The next three 
have not condescended to write at all. From Mr. O'Connell, who 
professes to be, and is regarded as, the protector and defender of Irish 
character and Irish interests, I could not have expected such neglect 
on this particular subject. It was natural to anticipate, at least from 
him, an ardent and zealous effort to promote the circulation of a work 
calculated to efface the foul stains which calumny has impressed on 
the escutcheon of his country, and which powerfully militate against 
the object to which he has devoted himself. 

From the Archbishop I received a short letter, dated January 30, 

Kelly, of Albany, procured subscribers in that city and the towns in the neighbour- 
hood for twenty copies, exclusive of his own subscription for six. This is a proof of 
what might have been done by any exertions, even though not very ardent, by those 
whose influence extended over entire states. I cannot omit recording here, my 
gratitude to this gentleman. 

* It gives me great pleasure to except the Right Rev. Bishop England, whose 
absence on an episcopal tour delayed a reply— but who has, since his return, ex- 
pressed the most friendly disposition towards the work, and a determination to aid 
in its circulation. 



PREFACE. 3 

which fully proves that his idea of the nature of the work was utterly 
erroneous. He says — "It is true I am not. an admirer of some of 
the historians whom you have chosen as models.'''' Here is a radical 
error, — an assumption wholly unwarranted, as far as models are con- 
cerned. I have chosen no historians as " models.^' My work is a 
sid generis. It is highly probable — indeed, it is all I)ut certain — that 
it is the only work ever publislied, on controverted points, which 
relies almost altogether on the testimony of the enemies — many of 
them most prejudiced and embittered — of the cause it advocates, to 
prove very nearly all the mooted points. Since that time, I have sent 
him and the other geijtlemen copious specimens of the work, together 
with a host of most unequivocal testimonies in favour of it, from the 
illustrious Archbishop Troy, ex-president Madison, Dr. Mac Nevin, 
Bishop Coppinger, the Rev. Matthew Carr, D. D., T. W. Tone, &c., 
to remove all doubts about its object and execution. 

These documents must have convinced tlie archbishop, how far he 
had eried in respect to the plan of the work — and how far it was entitled 
to his countenance and patronage ; but I regret to state, that the com- 
munications have answered no purpose whatever. Let me not, however, 
be misunderstood when I use the word ^'patronage.'". I would scorn 
to ask, or, if offered, to receive, pecuniary patronage from any man, 
clerical or secular, however exalted. My spirit is too high, and my 
circumstances too independent, for such a course. There are few 
men in this country who have written more than I have done, and I 
never received a dollar recompense for any of my writings, but from 
the sale of the works, which, except in three or four instances, never 
defrayed the mere expense of publication — (by the two first editions 
of this work, I sacrificed from .300 to 400 dollars; of the first, I printed 
250 copies for gratuitous distribution) — nor did l ever write a page with 
a view to profit, nor for the promotion of any personal interest. My 
writings have, with few exceptions, been directed by a view to the pro- 
motion of great public objects, and no small portion of them has been 
distributed gratuitously at my expense. All that I expected from the 
Archbishop — and this I distinctly stated — was, that he should declare his 
approbation of the work to a few zealous, ardent Irish Catholics, 
actuated by a truly Milesian spirit, who would undertake to procure 
such a subscription as would indemnify the publisher, and relieve me 
from the loss which I am likely to suffer. And a few such individuals, 
entering on the business, con amore, might easily have accomplished 
it in two or three days ; for few of those to whom it would be proper 
to apply, would refuse such applicants. Was it too much to expect 
such simple aid in such a cause, from the Roman Catholic Archbishop 
of Dublin ? Was a refusal to have been anticipated ? Might I not 
have expected a hearty, cordial, and effective compliance ? particularly 
when all thai was necessary to be done would not cost hinr a dollar, 
nor require more than one or two hours on his part ; whereas I had 
devoted years to the subject, which more properly belonged to him 
than to me ? 

But though I feel mortified at the neglect I have experienced, and 
somewhat dissatisfied with the loss that must accrue on this edition, I 
am incomparably more chagrined at the partial failure of the work in 
this country, and its total failure in the British dominions, by the 
deplorable apathy and indifference of those to whom it might naturally 
have looked for support, to whom uo thanks are due that it has not 



4 PREFACE. 

fallen stillborn from the press, to which fate, so far as depended on 
them, it was devoted. But it shall not thus perish ; for one hundred 
copies shall be deposited in some of the most celebrated libraries, not 
merely in this country and in the British dominions, but in France 
and Germany, which will show that while the author, a layman, by no 
means particularly interested in the subject, had for years prodigally 
lavished his money — devoted his leisure hours — impaired his sight, — 
and, on the verge of eternity, at 76, once more entered the lists in 
defence of his and their country ; those personages, in both countries, 
whose proper province it was to have tliemselves undertaken that de- 
fence, looked on the struggle with perfect indifference. 

Let me offer a few brief observations, which, for aught I know o& 
care, may draw down censure on me. I do not pretend to judge cor- 
rectly of this work. Perhaps no man was ever competent to perform 
this delicate operation on his own productions. But this I fearlessly 
aver, cavil at it who may, that if the Vindicia; Hibernicse merit one- 
half the approbation bestowed on it by Archbishop Troy, Bishop 
Coppinger, Bishop England, and the Rev. Mr. Huglies, to pass over 
all others, then those are inexpressibly culpable, who, having the 
influence, wanted the will, to secure its circulation, and looked on the 
undertaking with cold indifference — an indifference which would have 
consigned it to the sliades of oblivion, but for my inflexible determina- 
tion to have it republished at whatever expense of time, labour, pains 
or money might be requisite. Qui potest caperc, capiat. 



«iiil9®8«<«— 



PREFACE CONTINUED. 

Philadelphia, July 13, 1837. 

The above portion of this preface was written above two months 
since; but its publication was delayed in the hope that the parties enu- 
merated, would, on reconsideration, feel convinced of the dereliction 
of their duty towards their ill-fated country, in declining to aid in the 
circulation of a work, which effaces the stains wherewith fraud and 
falsehood have travestied her history — and likewise of their violation of 
the rules of propriety towards me, by the utter and mortifying ne- 
glect of my letters. For this purpose I had it put in type, and 
forwarded copies to those persons, that they might not have cause 
to complain of being taken at unawares. The hope was falla- 
cious. The measure produced no effect as to the encouragement of 
the work. The only reply I have since had, has been from the Arch- 
bishop of Dublin — who declares, April 27, that " he positively declines 
all interference in the contemplated project, beyond the recommenda- 
tion of the work, tvhen an opportunity shall offer, as one of much 

MERIT IN ITSELF, AND OF GREAT INTEREST TO THIS COUNTRY." \i. 6. 

Ireland] If the work be " of much interest to his country," it is not 
easy to conceive why he might not at once make " an opportunity 
of recommending it,'''' instead of waiting for one which may never 
come, or, at all events, not occur till it is too late to answer any pur- 
pose. 



PREFACE. 5 

To those Irishmen, on both sides of the Atlantic, whether eccle- 
siastics or laity, who have not condescended to answer my letters, are 
submitted the following facts and assumptions. 

1. The Irish, for six centuries, from the time of that prince of 
Munchausens, Giraldus Cambrensis, have been most infamously arid 
atrociously calumniated by at least three fourths of all those who have 
undertaken . to write the history of the country, particularly since 
1641. 

2. *rhey have been accusled of having perpetrated, during the war 
that began at that period, the most demoniac cruelties, never exceeded 
by the most savage and barbarous of the human species. 

" Some had their bellies ript up, arid so left tvith their guts running about tlieir 
heels ! But this horrid kind of cruelty was principally reserved by these inhuman 
monsters /or ivomen, whose sex they neither pitied nor spared ; liunging up several 
■women, mani/ of them great ivith child, -chose bellies they ript %ip as they hung, 
and so let the little infants full out ! ! ! a course they ordinarily took with such as 
they found in that sad condition. And sometimes they gave their children to 
sxvine ! ! Some the dogs eat ; and some, taken alive out of their mothers' bellies, 
they cast into ditches .' ! And for sucking children, and others of a riper age, 
some had their brains knocked out ; others were trampled under foot to death ! ! 
Some they cut i7i gobbets and pieces ; others they ripfjed up alive. Some were 
found in the fields, sucking the breasts of their murdered mothers." — MACAxriiKT's 
History of England, III. 71. 

N.-B. Let it be particularly observed, that Mrs. Macauley wrote in 1766, above 
one hundred years after the date of these hobgoblin stories ; and that her history 
was "hailed with loud acclaim," by the enemies of Ireland, in the British metro- 
polis, and by some regarded as superseding even Hume's history. 

3. These atrocities have been ascribed, by the enemies of the Irish, 
to the alleged bloody and ferocious spirit of the Roman Catholic re- 
ligion. 

" Slaughtering the English -was represented by the priests as thk most meri- 
TOHtous OF RELIGIOUS ACTS ! ! They exhorted the people, with tears in their 
eyes, to rid the world of these declared enemies to the catholic faith and piety. 
The murder of protestants, they said, -woiddbe a good preservative against the 
pains of purgatory ; nor ivould they administer the sacratnents, but on condition 
that neither man, -woman, nor child, shoidd be spared ! i * * * Children 
■were forced to carry their sick and aged parents to the place of slaughter / / * 
* * Children were in this manner impelled to be executioners of their parents ; 
■wives of their husbands ; mothers of their children ! J Children were boiled to 
death in cauldrons. Some wretches were fayed alive ! ! Others were stoned to 
death. Others had their eyes plucked out ; their ears, noses, cheeks, and hands cut 
aSr—Ibid. 

4. As these prejudices attach disgrace and dishonour to the Roman 
Catholic religion, it follows that the professors of that religion, what- 
ever their country may be, ought to feel an interest in their refutation. 

5. Thousands in this- country, even now, agree in opinion with 
Mrs. Macauley. At no very distant period, the Rev. John Mason, a 
presbyterian clergyman of New York, of great talents and high repu- 
tation, promulgated similar opinions in the Christian's Magazine. 
" Can we," asks this reverend gentleman, " reasonably doubt, that 
the papists of the present day, will not, whenever it is in their power, 
he found in their forefathers* cruel practices ? especially when, through 
ignorance and superstition, they believe that when they kill you, they 
do God service?** 



6 PREFACE. 

6. About ten years since, similar doctrines were, by the Gideonite 
Society in this city, delivered from the pulpit, and widely dissemi- 
nated in pamphlet form. 

7. These atrocious libels form part and parcel of the history of 
the British islands, as written, read, and believed in most parts of 
Europe. 

8. That such calumnies have, to this day, a pernicious operation on 
the minds of ignorant people, and that no pains ought to be spared in 
their refutation, is too palpable to require proof, especially when we 
consider the case of the Rev. Mr. Mason," and the Gideonite So'ciety. 
Although some of these calumnies have been partially and occasionally 
refuted ; yet they have never been completely put down till nowt 
Indeed, some of them have never been controverted. The Rev. Mr. 
Lingard, a Roman Catholic historian, has, through the most culpable 
neglect, lent the sanction of his name to one of the most stupid and 
barefaced impostures, that ever disgraced history ; that is, the clumsy 
fabrication of O'Conally, of the pretended conspiracy of the Irish 
in 1641, to murder all the protestants that would not join with them!! 
a fabrication, the basis on which rested the whole train of frauds and 
perjuries, and forgeries, by which two thirds, if not three fourths of 
all the profitable lands of Ireland were confiscated, and thousands and 
tens of thousands of the Irish ruined, exiled, or executed. 

9. With pains hardly credible — and research rarely equalled, and 
perhaps never exceeded, I have fully and irrefragably disproved all 
those calumnies, and, mirabile dictu, in almost every case, by quota- 
tions from the writings of the accusers and their friends. And I 
have not only done this, but have fully proved, that whatever massa- 
cres were perpetrated, were on, and not by, the Irish. 

10. Of the extent of my researches some idea may be formed from 
the fact, that the published quotations (not mere references, as are 
too common) amount to 1143, exclusive of 969 omitted for want of 
room — and are from seventy works, some of them six and eight 
volumes. 

11. The Vindicise Hibernicae places on record, on a foundation as 
impregnable as the rock of Gibraltar, the horrible system of rapine 
and oppression by which Ireland was for centuries ground to the earth 
by the satraps to whom her destinies were confided. 

12. Archbishop Troy, whose decision on the point is beyond appeal, 
has stated of this work, that " it does more to vindicate the cause of 
Ireland than all the works on the subject that had preceded it." 
And Dr. Mac Nevin, whose decision is only second to that of the arch- 
bishop, states — " T'his work does more for its pu7'pose than any other 
extant, and richly merits the thanks of every lover of Ireland, and 
of every lover of truth and humanity of any country." 

13. 1 venture to assert, that a work on this important subject, and 
supported by such high authority, even had it been written by a Luttrel, 
an Arnold, a Barabbas, or a Judas Iscariot, has a fair claim on the 
support and countenance of every Irishman, who has any portion of 
regard for the honour and character of his country, more particularly 
catholics, whether clergy or laity ; — and, a fortiori, when written by a 
man who, in 1779, at the early age of 19, commenced the defence of 
his country, and from that time to the present, has embraced every 
fair opportunity of exerting himself in the same cause. 



PREFACE. 7 

14. But Irish catholics, clergy and laity, who have been written to 
on the subject, and who by moderate exertions might have secured 
its success, have not only taken no interest whatever in it, but 
have treated my letters with a degree of contumelious neglect, which 
ought not to be inflicted on a decent sweep-chimney, had he written 
on such a subject; foe a decorous letter, on business, from a decent 
sweep-chimney, is entitled to an answer from any man, how elevated 
soever his situation. 

15. When a man is thus treated, he may, without subjecting him- 
self to a charge of vanity, show, by irrefragable proof, how little 
he has deserved it. Conformably with this idea, I annex the sponta- 
neous testimony of approbation of above forty of the most respectable 
citizens of Philadelphia,* a city in which I have lived for fifty-two 
years. Of the number, several have been my friends and neighbours 
for twenty, thirty, and some forty years. 

When I thus cite to the bar of the public, bishops, archbishops, 
members of parliament, privy counsellors, &c., I am well aware — 
I would be a very idiot, were I not — of the fearful odds against me. 
Their weight and influence will carry the public with them, against a 
solitary individual. But this will only be for a time. Truth will 
ultimately prevail — and their warmest friends will be forced to acknow- 
ledge, however reluctantly, that they have not only culpably failed in 
their regard for the character of their country, but have violated to- 
wards me an imperative duty, from which no elevation of office or 
station can exonerate a gentleman. At this treatment, from which my 
age and the object of my communications ought to have protected me, 

* Philadelphia, July 4, 1834. 
Dear Sir, 

On behalf of a number of your personal and sincere friends, we have the 
satisfaction of presenting to you the accompanying Service of Plate, of which they 
request your acceptance, as a testimonial of their respect for your public conduct, 
and their esteem for your private virtues. They have long witnessed the unwearied 
efforts, with which every scheme of private benevolence, and every plan of public 
improvement, have found in you a zealous and disinterested advocate ; and deem 
yotir -whole career in life an encouraging example, by the imitation of -which, 
■without the aid of official station, or political po-wer, every private citizen tnay 
become a public benefactor. Of this happy union of the social qualities and the 
patriotic spirit of a good citizen, they wish to ofler you this permanent memorial, 
which they pray you to receive, with their best wishes for the continuance of your 
health and usefulness. 

JOHN SAVAGE, ALEXANDER HENRY, 

N. BIDDLE, SAMUEL RICHARDS, 

PETER S. DUPONCEAU, JOHN VAUGHAN, 
JOSEPH DUGAN, Committee. 

JOHN MEANY, Sec'ry. 
Mathew Caret, Esa., Philadelphia. 

DONORS. — Messrs. John Savage, Nicholas Biddle, Joseph Dugan, Samuel 
Richards, Dr. N. Chapman, Alex. Henry, Henry Clay of Ky., John Meany, 
Charles J. Ingersoll, R. Looney, Nathaniel Dunn, Joseph M'llvaine, Dr. James 
Mease, David P. Brown, Dr. Samuel Jackson, David M'Clure, Joseph R. Chandler, 
H. D. Gilpin, Dr. Thomas Harris, Nathan Bunker, Wm. Strickland, John Swift, 
Charles T. Roberts, Stephen Kingston, Josiah Randall, John Vaughan, B. & W. 
Wilson, Isaac Macauley, Thomas Astley, Mark Richards, P. S. Duponceau, 
Thomas L. M'Kenney, John Markoe, E. S. Bird, Wm. J. Duane, John Stille, 
Dr. L. P. Gebhard, Joshua Longstreth. 



PREFACE. 



I felt deep indignation. And can there be found a man of intelligence 
and honour, who will deny that I had ample cause for that indignation ? 
and that I was fully justified in the strong but decorous language I 
have used to express it? I trust not. Here I rest my case with a 
position, which I have often repeated in this affair — When men in 
elevated situations violate tlie rules they ought to observe towards 
those below them, the latter are dispensed from the use of much cere- 
mony in animadverting on their conduct. 



" Breathes there a man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself has said, 

This is my own, my native land T 
Whose heart has ne'er within him burn'd. 
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd, 

From wandering on a foreign strand? 
If such there breathe, go, marlc him ivell ; 
For him no minstrel's raptures swell ; 
High though his title prove his name, 
Boundless his wealth, as wish can claim ; 
Despite those titles, power, and pelf, 
The wretch, concenter'd all in self, 
Living, shall forfeit fair renown. 
And. doubly dying, shall go doiun, 
To the vile dust, from ivhence he sprung, 
Un-wept, unhonour^d, and unsung". 



N. B. It would do mc great injustice, were it supposed that my 
object in this book is to revive or excite unkind feelings between the 
two nations, the English and Irish. It is the farthest from my thoughts. 
The English of the present day are no more responsible for the atro- 
cities, the rapines, the massacres, of the Urfords, the Greys, the St. 
Legers, the Cootes, the Iretons, the Cromwells — the piratical pro- 
ceedings of Strafford or Parsons — the forgery of Mountjoy — or the 
scheme of Sir John Perrot for swindling the Irish out of £300,000 by 
the adulteration of the coin, carried into operation by Queen Eliza- 
Ijeth — than the French of the present day are for the horrors of Car- 
rere, Santerre, Couthon, St. Just, and liobespierre. My object has 
been, and is, simply to vindicate the character of the most calumniated 
nation on the surface of the globe. 

I once more enter my protest against having this work tried by the 
rigid canons of historical criticism, as if it professed to be a regular 
history, which is by no means the case. Its highest pretensions are 
to have an humble place among that class of writings, styled " Me- 
moircs pour servir a Vhistoire,''' with which French literature has 
for centuries so much abounded, and which are not restricted to the 
rigorous rules of history. It comprises a mass of materials, collected 
with immense application, which will greatly facilitate the labours of 
some Livy or Tacitus (a Tacitus is the person needed) who may at a 
future day arise with honesty of purpose, to state " the truth, the 
whole truth, and nothing but the truth;" and to put down for ever the 
Munchausenisms of Temple, Borlace, Clarendon, Rapin, Hume, and, 
though last, not least, the paragon of historical fabulists, Mrs. Ma- 
cauley. 

Indulgence is craved for some tautologies and repetitions, the result of 
the forgetfulness incident to old age. 



PREFACE 

TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



To most readers it will probably appear a work of supererogation, in a 
country and an age so remote from the scene and the era of the events 
which are discussed in this Vindication, to investigate the subjects it em- 
braces. The reasons, however, are powerful, and fully justify the under- 
taking. 

The history of Ireland is almost one solid mass of falsehood and im* 
posture, erected, particularly during the seventeenth century, on the basis 
of fraud and perjury; — fraud and perjury so obvious, so stupid, and so 
flagitious, that, to the most superficial observer, it must be a subject of in- 
expressible astonishment how it ever gained currency. 

Nevertheless, from such foul and polluted sources alone, the knowledge 
of that history is derived by nine-tenths of those who have condescended 
to study it : and, however extravagant it may appear, it is nevertheless a 
serious truth, that a large portion even of those who pride themselves on 
their literary acquirements, are almost as ignorant of the aft'airs of Ireland, 
from the twelfth to the eighteenth century, as of those of Arabia or Japan. 
They are, in fact, in a worse state. With respect to the details of the his- 
tory of the latter nations, they are barely ignorant : but with respect to 
Ireland, almost all they know is wholly untrue. They give full faith and 
confidence to some of the most extravagant and spurious stories that ever 
were ushered on the world, to delude and deceive mankind, under the 
prostituted name of histories. 

The terrific tales that are recorded of the events of the civil war of 
1641, have sowed, and still continue to sow, a copious seed of the most 
vulgar and rancorous prejudices in the mind of man against his fellow man, 
which have sprouted forth with most pernicious luxuriance, and soured in 
the breasts of many the sweet milk of human kindness towards those with 
whom they are in daily habits of association. These prejudices ai-e too 
generally prevalent in the British dominions. 

In Ireland, they produced the most baleful consequences, and afforded 
some sort of countenance to the laws " to prevent the growth of popery" 
— an odious code, by which rapine, cruelty, and demoralization were le- 
gally systematized, and every principle of honour, honesty, good faith, 
justice, and sound policy, violated. 

Many of these prejudices have been transplanted from their native soil 
by emigrants, and have taken root in this country, notwithstanding the 
general liberality of the age. It is true, however, that their range is con- 
fined, and their influence inconsiderable. Nevertheless, extravagantly erro- 
neous impressions respecting Irish affairs are almost universal here, from 
the corrupt sources whence her heart-rending story is derived. 

2 



10 PREFACE. 

Should it, therefore, be asked, why I have taken the trouble to explore 
the musty volumes whence I have drawn the materials for this work? I 
reply, I have had three motives : the pleasure of detecting and exposing 
fraud and imposture ; the vindication of my native country ; and the fond 
hope, that there are in the United States thousands and tens of thousands 
of liberal and enlightened men, who only require to have the fair and holy 
form of Truth placed before tlieir eyes, properly authenticated, to induce 
them to clasp her to their bosoms. For such I write: and there is a large 
fund of consolation and encouragement to be derived from the considera- 
tion, that I address a public which has no sordid motives of self-in- 
terest to impel it to uphold the cause of imposture. There is here no 
Protestant, nor Presbyterian, nor Quaker, nor Catholic, nor Universalist 
ascendency, with a power built on the pestiferous basis of fraud, perjury, 
and misrepresentation — a power unfortunately capable of suppressing the 
voice of truth, lionour, and justice. 

This is an inestimable advantage, which writers on this subject, in the 
British dominions, have not enjoyed to the same extent. The power, in- 
fluence, and ascendency of the " sacred caste,'' the Irish oligarchs, who 
upheld the despotism of a dominant and domineering ecclesiastical esta- 
blishment, which, to compensate them for their services, ensured them the 
undisturbed possession of so undue a proportion of the honours and emo- 
luments of society, would have fallen prostrate at the touch of the talisman 
of truth, as the gorgeous fabric of Aladdin's palace fell at the touch" of the 
wand of the genius: and therefore, how disgraceful soever it maybe to 
human natui-e, it is not wonderful, considering the weakness, the wicked- 
ness, and the sellishness of mankind, that so much pains have been taken 
to stifle the voice of injurious truth, and to perpetuate the reign of produc- 
tive and lucrative imposture. 

Some gentlemen have exclaimed against this undertaking, as pernicious, 
and calculated to revive ancient prejudices, and excite hostility between 
different denominations of Christians, and between the natives of the two 
British islands. Charity induces me to hope, that those who raise these 
objections are deceived, not deceivers, — that they believe what they profess. 
But that their impressions, if ingenuous, arise from a very contracted view 
of the subject, may be made as clear as any axiom in morals or politics. 

There mio"ht be some plausibility in these objections, had the frauds and 
falsehoods I have undertaken to expose and refute, sunk into oblivion, and 
their influence wholly ceased to operate. But they have unfortunately sur- 
vived the causes which gave them birth ; become engrafted in history ; 
taken complete possession of the public mind ; and are, by thousands and 
tens of thousands, almost as implicitly and as universally believed, as the 
best esta43lished facts in the annals of the world. Can the man, then, who 
honestly endeavours to demolish the fabric of deception, and by this de- 
molition, eradicate the angry passions which it has engendered, be regarded 
otherwise than as engaged in a laudable warfare, — the warfare of holy 
truth against impious imposture ? Do not those who labour to prevent the 
success of such an undertaking, uphold, as far as in them lies, the cause of 
fraud and delusion ? 

Having stated the motives to this undertaking, I submit to the considera- 
tion of the reader the several points which I have laboured, and I trust suc- 
cessfully to establish. That they are of vital importance, and that, if proved, 
they invalidate a large portion of the history of Ireland, as narrated by 
Temple, Borlace, Carte, Warner, Leland, Macauley, Hume, and others, 



PREFACE. 11 

will appear obvious on a slight perusal. This consideration entitles them 
to a sober, serious examination. 

It is not, by any means, pretended that they are discussed systematically, 
in the order in which they are liere arranged. The proofs are dispersed 
throughout the work ; but, notwithstanding their want of arrangement, they 
cannot, I hope, fail to satisfy every candid mind, — 

I. That the assertions of Temple, Clarendon, Warner, Leland, and nearly 
all the other writers on the aflairs of Ireland, that the Irish, for forty years 
previous to the insurrection of 1641, enjoyed a high degree of peace, secu- 
rity, happiness, and toleration, is as base and shameful a falsehood as ever 
disgraced the pages of history ; and is no more like the real state of the 
case, than the history of St. George and the dragon is like the true history 
of England. For 

II. That, during this period, there was scarcely a Catholic in the kingdom 
secure in the possession of his property, or in the exercise of his religion. 
And 

III. That, during the same period, the Irish were plundered by the govern- 
ment of above a million of acres of their lands, in the most wicked, unjust, 
and perfidious manner ; and by rapacious individuals, to an extent beyond 
calculation. 

IV. That O'Conally's pretended discovery of a conspiracy, is one unva- 
ried strain of perjury. 

V. That there was no conspiracy for a general insurrection in Ireland, on 
the 23d October, 1641. • 

VI. That the basis on which rests the story of the pretended bloody 
massacre by the Irish, is a tissue of the most gross and palpable falsehood 
and perjury. On the contrary, 

VII. That the massacres perpetrated on the Irish, by St. Leger, Monroe, 
Tichbourne, Hamilton, Grenville, Ireton, and Cromwell, were as savage, 
as ferocious, as brutal, and as bloody, as the horrible feats of Cortes or 
Pizzaro, Attila or Genghis Khan ; and particularly, that history presents 
nothing more shocking or detestable than the massacre perpetrated by 
Ireton in the cathedral of Cashel, and by Cromwell in Drogheda and Wex- 
ford. 

VIII. That the Irish government issued a sanguinary order to slaughter 
" all men able to bear arms ! in'places where the insurgents were harbour- 
ed," without any discrimination between the innocent and guilty ! that the 
Long Parliament enacted an ordinance, " forbidding quarter to be given to 
any Irishman taken prisoner in England ; " and that those bloodthirsty 
edicts were carried into operation. 

[X. That the scheme of a general extirpation of the Irish, as general a 
confiscation of their estates, and an entirely new plantation of the country, 
was most seriously entertained, and for some time acted upon, by the Irish 
rulers and their officers. 

X. That the idea of a cessation of hostilities, whereby the Irish might 
escape from this projected plan of extirpation, excited as universal an alarm 
in England and Ireland, as if the established religion and government were 
about to be wholly overturned, 

XI. That the Irish government left nothing barbarous, cruel, or wicked, 
undone, to goad the Irish to resistance, and to extend the insurrection 
throughout the kingdom, for the purpose of enriching themselves and their 
friends by confiscations. 

XII. That if the Irish insurgents of 1641 deserved to be stigmatized as 



12 PREFACE. 

traitors and rebels, then were the English revolutionists of 1688, the Ame- 
rican of 1776, and the French of 1789, traitors and rebels of the very worst 
possible kind ; as their grievances respectively bore no more proportion to 
those of tlie Irish, than the gentle Schuylkill to the impetuous Mississippi, 
the hill of Hovvlh to the peak of Teneriff'e, or lake Erie to the Atlantic 
ocean. 

XIII. That there is a striking contradiction between the facts and in- 
ductions of Carte, Warner, Leland, and nearly all the other writers of Irish 
history. 

XIV. That, in the Anglo-Hibernian histories of Ireland, there is so much 
error and falsehood, established beyond the possibility of doubt or denial, 
as to destroy the credibility of all that is not fully established by irrefragable 
documents. 

XV. That the seventeenth century, in the British dominions, was cha- 
racterized by a succession of forged plots, resting on the basis of flagrant 
perjuries, and calculated to sacrifice the lives and property of the innocent, 
and enrich malefactors of the worst kind. 

XVI. That the Irish code of laws, whose pretended object was to "pre- 
vent the growth of Popery," was intended to gratify all the basest passions 
of human nature, in violation of public faith, honour, justice, and humanity ; 
and that it organized as tyrannical an invasion of liberty, as piratical a de- 
predation on property, and was covered by as base a cloak of hypocrisy as 
the annals of the world can produce. 

I fondly flatter myself, I repeat, that the proofs I have adduced fully 
establish the whole of these points, and that I shall secure the assent of liberal 
and ingenious minds to all the essential ones. Against the fortresses of 
fraud and imposture, I have brought a battery of eight-and-forty pounders, 
which can hardly fail to demolish them. The arsenals of enemies, some 
of them most envenomed against the Irish, have furnished all the artillery. 
The laborious and unwearied research for them, and their mei-e disposition 
and arrangement, are all the merit I claim. 

It would be a most fastidious and hypercritical delicacy, that should pre- 
clude a Avriter from fairly stating the merits of, and obviating objections to, 
his materials, or the authorities on which he relies to support his narrative, 
if he write history ; or his discussions, if he investigate historical facts. I 
neither feel myself, nor fear in my readers any such delicacy. I therefore 
comment ou the materials of this publication, as I should on those of any 
other whatsoever. 

There is, I am persuaded, no historical work extant, that rests on stronger 
grounds. I am not aware of a single fact of importance, throughout the 
whole, that is not supported, not only by reference to, but, what is far more 
important, by quotations from, indisputable authorities, — authorities almost 
universally hostile to the cause I have undertaken to defend. 

Dr. Curry, in his invaluable work, the " Historical and Critical Review 
of the Civil Wars in Ireland," has set a laudable example in this depart- 
ment of literature. He has, in most cases, established his facts by copious 
quotations. I have gone beyond his example; been more general in my 
quotations; and but very slenderly availed myself of the Irish Catholic writ- 
ers : whereas a large portion of his authorities are of this description ; and 
although they are in themselves perfectly sound and unexceptionable, yet 



PREFACE. 13 

they are liable to cavil, for which I was determined to afford no pretext 
whatever. On such a question, Catholic authorities would not have suffi- 
cient weight with minds devoured by prejudice ; and would come before the 
world in a questionable form, subject to suspicions of partiality. I have 
therefore almost wholly dispensed with them throughout; so that, in above 
eleven hundred quotations, there are not twenty from writers of that class ; 
and, in one of the most important chapters of the book, that on the subject 
of the massacres and murders perpetrated on the Irish, I have not availed 
myself of a single one of their advocates. In this respect, therefore, the 
work rests on the most impregnable foundation. No similar instance has 
probably ever occurred. 

My heart swells with a glow of satisfaction and pride, tRat I can come 
before the critical world, with a defence of Ireland, resting on tho names of 
Spencer, Davies, Coke, Temple, Borlace, Clarendon, Nalson, Carte, War- 
ner, Leland, Baker, Orrery, Rushworth, &c. nearly all of whom were open 
inveterate or concealed enemies of that coiuitry and its unfortunate inha- 
bitants. It may seem extraordinary, that there is on the list the name of the 
wretched Temple, who was so far ashamed of his own spurious work, that 
he endeavoured, but in vain, to suppress it: but it is the peculiar felicity of 
this undertaking, that it may be fairly said to this father of all the imposture, 

'-'.By thy words thou shall be condemned ;" 

for, were all the other authorities, cited in this work, totally annihilated, 
there is. enough in Temple's miserable legend to demolish the fabric of 
fraud and deception, in the erection of which, so much time, and such va- 
ried talents, have been prostituted for a hundred and ninety years past. 

That the work is considerably defective — that the arrangement is in 
many places injudicious and confused; and that I have not employed 
enough of the limse labor, I freely admit. I stand self-condemned. That 
I have not done justice to myself, in' presenting it to tlie public in such 
an imperfect state, is of little importance. This might lower the sails of 
my vanity : but it could affect me alone. But, having undertaken the de- 
lightful task of vindicating the country of Swift, Parnell, Goldsmith, Sterne, 
Farquhar, Burke, Flood, Curran, Grattan, Montgomery, and a long and 
bright galaxy of such illustrious characters ; a country whose natives, not- 
withstanding the countless blessings bestowed on them by Nature, in local 
situation, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate, have been for ages doomed 
to pine in the most abject poverty, wretchedness, and idleness at home ; but 
abroad, in every region and every clime of the known world, have displayed 
the brightest energies of the human character, in all the varied walks of life; 
a country which has furnished almost every nation in Christendom with 
statesmen and warriors, driven from their native soil by lordly despotism, 
rampant injustice, and religious intolerance ; a country the most calumniated, 
and among the most oppressed, in the world : having as fair a field to ex- 
plore as ever courted the exertions of any writer, in any age or country, I 
most deeply regret, and sincerely apologize for, the want of judgment which 
led me to appear precipitately before the public, without that degree of 
elaboration which the importance of the subject demanded. 

Having candidly avowed thus much with respect to the execution of the 
work, I trust I shall not be censured for expressing a hope, that there is, in 
the object I have had in view — the glorious cause I have undertaken — and 
the impregnable basis on which this Vindication rests, a redeeming virtue. 



i4 PREFACE. 

that would atone for defects and imperfections even greater than are to be 
found in these pages. He must be a most fastidious epicure, who, when 
hungiy, woukl turn in scorn from excellent viands, merely because the 
traiteur had been injudicious or inexpert in the cookery: anda reader would 
be equally injudicious, who should reject a work, which shed the broad 
glare of truth on an important and much-misrepresented period of history, 
merely because the writer had failed in ihc due arrangement of his ma- 
terials. 

In following the track of such an indefatigable writer as Curry, who has 
almost exhausted the sickening subject, it would be hadly possible to avoid 
using the same materials, and frequently making analagous dispositions of, 
and deductions from, them. This is the fate of every writer who travels 
over ground already beaten. A man who writes history, or discusses his- 
torical subjects, of remote periods, is no further worthy of credit, than as he 
narrates facts already recorded. Invention and fraud are synonymous terms. 
All that remain for modern writers, who treat of remote events, are, labo- 
rious research ; judicious selection of materials ; fidelity of reference or 
quotation ; and correct induction. How far I have succeeded with the 
second and fourth, the world will decitle : but to the first and third I fear- 
lessly lay claim. I have spared neither pains nor expense in procuring the 
necessary materials, nor time nor labour in their examination. Almost 
every book in the Philadelphia library, bearing on this subject, (and the 
number is immense,) I have examined; and moreover procured many, 
which it does not contain, from New York, Baltimore, and Burlington.* 

On the subject of fidelity of quotation, I wish to state, that I have been 
as careful as human frailly would admit, to avoid errors : but in the very 
unusual number of authorities, some may have escaped me. If this be the 
case, I am satisfied they are iew and unimportant. Should any be dis- 
coveied, I shall regard the communication of them as a signal favour. 

—•»»«©««<•— 

My requisitions on the reader are iew and simple. I merely request a 
candid and patient hearing; that no inveterate prejudice may be allowed to 
operate against me ; and that the " Vindicise Hibernicae " may not be ar- 
raigned at the bar of criticism as if it were injudiciously offered to the world 
as a regular, systematic, finished work, to which it explicitly declines 
making any pretensions, — but rather as a series of distinct and somewhat 
desultory chapters, tending to prove certain points, each in some degree in- 
sulated from the rest. To this view, I request the most particular attention ; 
and that it may be constantly borne, in mind, throughout the perusal of the 

* It is not pretended, that I have read all the books I have quoted. Half a life would 
scarcely be adequate to this purpose. No man of business could read Thurloe and Rush- 
worth, amounting to fifteen ponderous folios, in less than two or three years. But four- 
fifths of the books to which I have referred, and many others which were too barren to 
aiiford a single passage, I have exammed page by page. Others have been more slightly 
searched ; and of some, only certain volumes, on cotfemporaneous events. Those accus- 
tomed to investigations of this kind, know that a single glance frequently suffices to ascer- 
tain whether a page be likely to furnish suitable matter. This has been remarkably the 
case with Thurloe, Rushworth, and Clarendon. Temple, Carte, Warner, Leland, and 
some others, who have furnished the principal part of my materials, required, and have 
accordingly received, a closer examination. But of the matter suitable for my purpose, 
even in these works, a large portion must have wholly escaped me, from the rapidity of 
my researches. Moreover, of my selections, I have not been able to avail myself of more 
than one-third part, in consequence af the limits prescribed to this work. 



PREFACE. 15 

work. I court and defy the most rigorous scrutiny into my facts and in- 
ductions. Let no indulgence be shown to those on which there is the least 
doubt or uncertainty: let all be rejected, that do not carry with them irre- 
sistible conviction. If, in the ardent zeal I feel in what I deem the noblest 
of causes, I have, on some particular points, occasionally overrated the force 
of the evidence, and drawn conclusions which that evidence does not appear 
to warrant, and if my positions on those be rejected, I trust that this de- 
cision will not affect any of the others. Let each stand forth substantively 
by itself, and not bring on the downfall of its neighbour by its error, or 
support its neighbour's error by its truth. 

Pecuniary considerations have had no place among the motives that led 
to this ujiidertaking. This edition consists of only seven hundred and fifty 
copies, of which two hundred and fifty are intended to be gratuitously dis- 
tributed to public libraries, reading-rooms, and enlightened individuals ; in 
order to afford the work a fair chance of perusal, and my calumniated coun- 
try an opportunity of justification. 

Philadelphia, March 6, 1819. 



FROM THE PREFACE 

TO THE SECOND EDITION 



Since the appearance of the first edition of this work, it has undergone a 
complete revision. Having enlarged the size of the page, and greatly re- 
duced that of the types, I have been enabled to make very copious additions 
to its contents, which are nearly doubled. The time it embraces is extend- 
ed down to the present century, having introduced a view of the chief por- 
tions of the barbarous code for " preventing the growth of popery." 

I have, moreover, rendered the work far more methodical than in the 
former edition — dividing it into several distinct periods, as nearly as possi- 
ble in chronological order. 

Let me be allowed to avail myself of the words of the great Chaptal. 
" I have neglected nothing to procure correct information. I do not, how- 
ever, pretend to publish a perfect work. All that I can pledge myself for, 
is, that it emanates from honest intentions." 

In the compilation of history, at least on all disputed points, it appears an 
incumbent duty to refer with precision to the authorities from whence the 
materials are derived. A mere reference to the name of the author is not 
sufficient. Not only the page, but the particular edition, ought to be pointed 
out with precision. To this I have uniformly attended, except in White- 
lock's memorials.* 

* Of this work I have used two editions, one published in 1682, and the other in 1724. 
One of them has been unaccountably lost or mislaid, and hence has arisen a confusion in 



16 PREFACE. 

The histories of Irish aft'airs are wonderfully deficient in this respect. I 
have now before me Clarendon's History of the Irish Rebellion, and Craw- 
ford's, Gordon's, Lawless's and Leland's histories of Ireland, and Warner's 
history of the rebellion. The first four scarcely contain a single refer- 
ence, note, or illustration. Every thing depends upon the mere ipse dixit 
of the respective writers. Leland's history has a few references, but fre- 
quently not on the most disputed points. Moreover, half his references are 
merely to the title of the work, or the name of the writer, without stating 
the chapter or page, a mode of reference of little avail. Who will take the 
trouble of canvassing a volume of four or five hundred pages, to verify a 
passage, with no clue to guide him to the particular page or even chapter 
of the work, from whence it is said to be derived? 

Warner's plan is still moi'e unsatisfactory. At the head of each Book, 
he arranges the names of the authors, or the titles of the works, that furnish 
his materials. At the commencement of the first Book, for instance, he has 
—Clarendon, Castlehaven, Cox, Temple, Borlace, Harris, and Historical 
Memoirs, without the least indication of what he has derived from any of 
them. Some of these writers are at daggers' points with others — some 
are wholly unworthy of credit — and some entitled to implicit confidence. 
The reader, therefore, wholly uncertain on what authority any particular 
statement rests, must be unable to decide how far it is deserving of attention. 

The paging of some of the books which I have quoted, is so extremely 
incoirect, that I think it necessary to caution such of my readers as may be 
disposed to examine my authorities, not to be too hasty in condemning me 
should they occasionally find the paging not to correspond exactly. The 
two most remarkable works for such errors, are Rushworth's Collections, 
and Cox's History of Ireland, in both of which the same pages are fre- 
quently repeated. There is scarcely a volume of the first, wholly free from 
errors of this description. Some of them are of the most egregious kind. 

The fourth volume of that work has the leaves from 552 to 565 paged 
only on one side; and from 401 to 440 are duplicates. In the seventh 
volume, the paging runs 731, 232, 233, 334, 335, 336, 737. Various other 
errors occur. 

In Cox's Ireland, the paging is entirely erroneous from 350 to 381. 
Some pages occur twice, as 354, 355, 367, 368. In Cabala, likewise, some 
pages occur twice. Erroneous paging prevails in several others of the 
works which I have used. 

Of Ware's works I have used two dififerent editions. One, a single 
volume folio, published in Dublin, 1705, contains some articles, particularly 
a tract styled " Gesta Ilibernorum," which are omitted in the more recent 
edition, published in the same place, in two volumes, folio, anno 1764. 
From this tract I have made several extracts. 

Philadelphia, Oct. 20, 1823. 

the references, which I tried to avoid, but in vain. To some of the pages of particular 
passages, I was wholly unable to refer. Of one point the reader may rest assured, that I 
have been as scrupulously exact as possible in my quotations, and that I feel persuaded 
there is not a material error in that respect in the work. 



KEY TO THE REFERENCES. 

To enable any reader, -who may feel so disposed, to verify the facts and quotations in 
this work, I annex a lAst of the Authors, -with the dates of the several editions. 
Having-, to avoid enc^imberiyig the pages with tedious repetitions of the titles of works, 
generally referred to the authors^ names, this list furnishes a key to the references. , 

Haker. Chronicles of the Kings of England. Folio. Title wanting. 
Borlace. History of the Execrable Irish Rebellion. Folio. London, 1680. 
Burke. Works of the Right Hon. Edmund Burke. 6 vols. 8vo. Boston, 1807. 
Burnet. Burnet's History of His Own Times. 2 vols, folio. I-ondon, 1724. 
Burton. History of the Kingdom of Ireland. By R. Burton. Westminster, 181 1. 
Bernard. Whole Proceedings of the Siege of Drogheda. By Nicholas Bernard, dean of 

Ardagh. Dubhn, 1736, 
Carleton. A Thankful Remembrance of God's Mercy. By George, Bishop of Chichester, 

8vo. London, 1630. 
Cabala. Cabala: Sive Scrinia Sacra, Mysteries of State and Government. Folio. London 

1683. 
Curry. An Historical and Critical Review of the Civil Wars in Ireland. By John Curry. 

M. D. 2 vols. 8vo. Dublin, 1786. 
Crawford. History of Ireland, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. By Wil 

liam Crawford. 2 vols. 8vo. Strabane, 1783. 
Cox. Hibernia Anglicana : or the History of Ireland. By Richard Cox, Esq. London 

1689. 
Clarendon. History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England. By the Earl of Cla 

rendon. 3 vols. foho. Oxford, 1704. 
Clarendon's S. P. State Papers. By the Earl of Clarendon. 2 vols, folio. Oxford, 1773 
Clarendon's I. History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars of Ireland. By the Earl of Cla- 
rendon. 8vo. London, 1720. 
Clarendon's Life. The Life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon. 3 vols. 8vo. Oxford, 1761. 
Carte. Life of James, Duke of Ormond. 3 vols, folio. London, 1736. 
Davies. Historical Tracts. By Sir John Davies, Attorney-General of Ireland. 8vo. 

Dublin, 1787. 
Daniel. The Collection of the History of England. By Samuel Daniel. Folio, London, 

1650. 
Essex. Letters written by His Excellency Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex, Lord Lieutenant 

of Ireland. 4to. London, 1770, 
Frankland. Annals of King James, and Charles I. Folio. London, 1681. 
Gordon. History of Ireland, from the earliest Accounts to the Union. By the Rev. 

James Gordon. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1806. 
Granger. Biographical History of England. 4 vols. 8vo. London, 1759. 
Hibernica. Harris's Hibernica: or, Sozne Ancient Pieces respecting Ireland, Folio. 

Dublin, 1747, 
Harris. History and Antiquities of the City of Dublin, By William Harris, 8vo. London, 

1776. 
Hollinshed. Chronicles of England, Ireland, and Scotland. 6 vols, 4to, London, 1807, 
Hume. History of England, By David Hume. 6 vols. 8vo. Albany, 1816. 
Journals. Journals of the House of Commons of England. Folio, 

Kerry. Ancient and Present State of the County of Kerry. By C. Smith. Dublin, 1756. 
King. State of the Protestants in Ireland, under the late King James's Government. By 

Archbishop King, 8vo. I^ondon, 1692, 
Lela7id. History of Ireland, By T, Lcland. 4 vols. 8vo. Philadelphia, 1774, 
Ludlow. Memoirs of Edward Ludlow, Esq, 3 vols, 8vo, Vevay, 1698, 
May. History of the Parliament of England, which began Nov. 3, 1640, By Thoma* 

May, 4to. London, 1812. 

3 



18 KEY TO THE REFERENCES. 

Memoirs. Memoirs of the History of Ireland, from the Restoration. 8vo. London, 1774. 
JMoimtmorrcs. History of the Principal Transactions of the Irish Parliament. By Lord 

Mountmorres. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1792. 
Macmdey. History of England. By C. Macauley. 9 vols. 4to. London, 1766. 
Mason. A Statistical Account or Parochial Survey of Ireland. By W. S. Mason. 8vo. 

Dublin, 1814. 
JMacpherson. History of Great Britain. 2 vols. 8vo. Dublin, 1775. 
JsTalson. Collection of the great Affairs of State, 2 vols. foho. London, 1682. 
JVewen/iam. View of the Natural, Political, and Commercial Circumstances of Ireland. 

By T. Newenham. 4to. London, 1809. 
Ormond. Collection of Original Papers and Letters belonging to the Ormond Family. 

2 vols. 8vo. London, 1737. 
Orrery. State Letters of the Earl of Orrery. 2 vols. 8vo. Dublin, 1743. 
Pacata Ilibernia. History of the War in Ireland. By Sir George Carew. 3 vols. '4to. 

Dublin, 1810. 
Plo-ivden. Historical View of the State of Ireland, from the Invasion to the Union. 6 vols. 

8vo. Philadelphia, 1805. 
Parliamentary History. Parliamentary or Constitutional History of England. 24 vols. 

8vo. London, 1762. 
Pickering. Statutes at Large, from Magna Charta to the End of the Eleventh Parliament 

of Great Britain. By Darby Pickering. London, 1762. 
Perrot. Government of Ireland under Sir John Perrot. 12mo. London, 1626. 
Petty. Political Anatomy of Ireland. By William Petty. 12mo. London, 1691. 
Parnell. History of the Penal Laws. By Henry Parnell. 8vo. Dublin, 1808. 
Picture of Dublin, 1821. 

Robbins. An Exact Abridgment of all the Irish Statutes. 4to. Dublin, 1736. 
Rapin. History of England. By Mr. Kapin. 21 vols. 8vo. London, 1760. 
Rnshivorth. Historical Collection of Private Passages of State. 8 vols, folio. 
Remarks on Burnet. Historical and Critical Remarks on Bishop Burnet's History. 8vo. 

London, 1727. 
Statutes. Collection of all the Statutes now in Use. Folio. DubUn, 1 678. 
Spencer. View of the State of Ireland. By Edmund Spencer. DubHn, 1 809. 
Strafford. State Letters of the Earl of Straflbrd. 2 vols, folio. Dublin, 1740. 
Speed. History of Great Britain. London, 1611. 
State Trials. Cobbet's complete Collection of State Trials. 1809. 
Smith. Ancient and Present State of the City and County of Cork. By Charles Smith. 

2 vols. 8vo. Dublin, 1774. 
Sydney Papers. Letters and Memorials of State, in the Reigns of Queen Mary, Queen 

Elizabeth, King James, &c. commonly called Sydney Papers. 2 vols, folio. 

London, 1746. 
Statement of the Penal Laws against the Catholics of Ireland. 8vo. Dublin, 1812. 
Temple. The Irish Rebellion. By Sir John Temple. Dublin, 1724. 
TImrloe. Collection of State Papers, from 1638 to the Restoration. 7 vols, folio. London, 

1742. 
Tichbourne, Letter of Sir Henry Tichbourne to his Lady on the Siege of Tredagh. Ap- 
pended to Temple's History. Dublin, 1724. 
Warner. History of the Rebellion and Civil War of Ireland. By Ferdinando Warner, 

4to. London, 1768. 
Whitelock. Memorials of English Affairs. Folio. London, 1682 & 1724. 
Warivick. Memoirs of the Reign of King Charles I. By Sir Philip Warwick. 8vo. 

London, 1703. 
Ware. Antiquities and History of Ireland. By Sir J. Ware. 1 vol. folio. Dublin, 1705. 

2 vols. Dublin, 1764. 
Wakefield. Account of Ireland, Statistical and Political. By E. Wakefield. 3 vols. 4to. 

London, 1812. 
Young-. Tour in Ireland, with Observations on the State of that Kingdom. 2 vols. 8vo. 
Dublin, 1780. 



i 



^^ ^^ fA \! -^^^ \ \ \A' 



VINDICItE HIBERNICtE. 



PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 

Desultory observations on historical writing. Its difficulties extreme. 
Discrepancies and falsehoods. Irish history more difficult, and 
more replete ivith fraud, than any other. President and Little 
Belt. Enormous errors iii Temple, Borlase, Clarendon, Bapin, 
ffarner, ^c. To the reader of Irish, more than any other history, 
extreme caution is necessary. Adequate reasons for the falsehood 
and corruption of Irish history. 

■ " There is but little respite from exasperating oppression and unmerited cruelty. 
The eye wanders over a dreary scene of desolation without a single point on which 
it can rest. The heart of the Philanthropist sinks under a hopeless despondency ; 
and passively yields to the unchristian and impious reflexion, that the poor people 
of Ireland are a devoted race, whom Providence has abandoned to the malignant 
ingenuity of an insatiable enemy." — Lawless. 

" I think I can hardly overrate the malignity of the principles of the Protestant 
ascendancy, as they affect Ireland." — Buhke, V. 233. 

Of all the modes of employing the intellectual powers of man for 
the benefit of the great family to which he belongs, there is probably 
none superior, in its beneficial tendency, to history, properly executed. 
When thus executed, and judiciously studied, it is fraught with advan- 
tages of the most signal kind. Its operation in the moral, bears a 
strong analogy to that of the sun in the natural world. It sheds bene- 
ficent rays of light around, and dispels those mists and darknesses which 
bewilder the traveller, and obscure his path. It unerringly points out, 
to governments and people, the career of rectitude and safety. The 
wisdom and folly of our predecessors, placed before our eyes, clearly 
display the course we ought to pursue, as well as the conduct we ought 
to shun; and the most characteristic difference between a sound and a 
pettifogging statesman, is, that the warning voice of history has its due 
share of influence on the former, while it sounds in vain in the ears of 
the latter. 

But when this species of writing is made subservient to the sinister 
purposes of a party or faction, as is frequently the case — when servile 
fear, or a sordid and mercenary thirst of gain, or any other sinister 
motive induces a writer to calculate his work to palliate their enormities, 
or to perpetuate their power — when wicked and profligate men, who 
ought to be held up to the execration of mankind, are pourtrayed as 
objects of esteem and veneration — when actions worthy of gibbets and 
guillotines, are blazoned forth as proofs of patriotism and public spirit 
— when fraud and falsehood guide the pen — or indolence neglects to 
unbar the entrance into those stores, whence alone the truth can be 
derived, — then the valuable purposes of history are perverted — the 
fountains of correct information corrupted and poisoned — an undue bias 



20*/'', ■/ '■* " VINDICI/E HIBERNIC^. 

is given to the public mind — antl the guilty authors have a fair and 
indisputable claim to the most unqualified reprobation. 

Under this censure fall the major part of those who have written on 
the affairs of Ireland, whetli^r in the imposing form of histories or po- 
litical pamphlets, and anniversary sermons. ■ The leading object with 
most of them has been to foster the most illiberal and unfounded pre- 
judices, — to support and justify the oppression of a lordly aristocracy, 
which, for more that a century and a half, has, with the most unfeeling 
tyranny, rode rough-shod over the great mass of the nation, t — and to 
iiold up that mass as objects of alihorrcnce. There are exceptions : a 
few writers have dared to utter bold truths, iiowever unpalatable to this 
aristocracy. But it is a melancholy fact, that so inveterate has Prejudice 
been on these topics, and so dillicult is it to shake olT her iron yoke, 
that even well-intentioned writers on Irish affairs have fallen into many 
of the most egregious errois of their predecessors. 

I shall give one instance, though rather out of place here. The least 
exceptionable English historian of the calamitous period of the civil 
war of 1641, is the Rev. Ferdinando Warner. He has, however, fallen 
into very glaring and numerous errors. In the account, for instance, 
which he gives of the massacre, (as it is termed,) of 1641, he colours as 
highly, and uses almost as extravagant terms, as those who asserted that 
there were one hundred and fifty-four thousand murdered in three 
months ; or as others, who carriecl the number to three hundred thou- 
sand ; or as Milton, who extends it to above six hundred thousand \\ 

• For above a centurj', the talents of numbers of clergymen of the established and 
Presbyterian churches in Ireland were employed, through the medium of anniversary 
sermons, to perpetuate and increase the rancour and hostility instilled from the cradle 
into the tender minds of the diflerent denominations of Protestants against their 
Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, which they carry to the grave, many of them across 
an ocean three thousand mlies in extent. The store-house, whence were derived 
these incendiary weapons, has been the "thirty-two volumes" of depositions, depo- 
sited in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, on which Dr. Warner pronounces 
this sentence of condemnation : " There is no credit to be given to anything that 
was said by these people, which had not other evidence to confirm it. And the 
reason why so many idle tales were registered of, what this body heard another body 
say, as to swell the collection to two and thirty thick volimies in folio, closely 
written, it is easier to conjecture than it is to commend." — Warneh, 146. 

-j- This refers to the barbarous and piratical code, enacted for the ostensible purpose 
of '^preventing- the growth of Popery,^' a system admirably calculated to oppress 
and impoverish, as well as brutalize and demoralize, the mass of the nation, and 
enslave them to the aristocracy or oligarchy that ruled the land ; to the development 
of the atrocious wickedness of which code I shall dedicate one or two chapters. 

i Few, even of the learned, know this fact respecting Milton, which displays 
such an awful disregard of truth, as attaches an eternal blot on his memory. The 
reader may readily conceive what poignant distress was excited by the discovery 
of a procedure so diametrically opposite to the general character of Milton, whom 
we are taught, from infancy, to regard as ranking among the best of men. But, 
after all, it only adds one to the numberless proofs already before the world, of the 
fallibility of human nature, and evinces that he was but a mere man, and, so far as 
respects this case, either grossly deceived, or a gross deceiver; — there is no other 
alternative : and a liberal examination will more readily inclme us to place in the 
latter than in the former class, the man who could, in cold blood, to pander to the 
purposes of a party, intimate an opinion, that there were above si.v hundred thou- 
sand Protestants massacred in Ireland, at a period when the whole population was 
only 1,400,000, and when the Protestants were but as two to eleven of the Ro- 
man Catholics. — Plttt, 318. 

This statement of the Massacre by Milton, I have taken from Harris's historical 



PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 21 

And yet, wonderful to tell, when, towards the close oi' his work, he 
enters on the examination of the evidence, he finds it so ridiculous and 
inadmissible, that he rejects nineteen-twentieths of it, and reduces the 
whole number murdered to "four thousand and twenty-eight!!!"^ 
Thus, his facts not only do not warrant his inferences, but absolutely 
destroy them; for it is perfectly obvious, that if there were but about 
four thousand murdered, the numberless cruelties he so elaborately 
pourtrays could not possibly have taken place. 

In the whole range of history, there is not probably a period that 
hojds out stronger inducements for discussion, that affords a more 
fertile field, but that is attended with more difficulty,* than that of 
Ireland, during the first half of the seventeenth century, to which I 
principally wish to call the attention of the reader. 

But the sinister views or the indolence of historians, a^e by no means 
the only rocks on which history, so far as its noble and legitimate pur- 
poses are concerned, is in danger of shipwreck. There are various 
others, equally formidable. With the most enlightened mind, and the 
purest intentions, the task of the historian is extremely arduous ; and 
he will, for want of proper charts, be occasionally, perhaps frequently, 
driven upon the shoals and quicksands of error and falsehood. So 
much of the real character of events, and of the actors in them, depends 
on numberless minute circumstances, which elude observation, or are 
liable to extraordinary misconception, that it is obvious, historians are 
often obliged to substitute conjecture for fact; and hence profound 

account of the life and writings of Charles 1.2 in these words — " Milton in the second 
edition of his Iconoclastes, has the following passage — 

" The rebellion and horrid massacre of English Protestants in Ireland to the 
amount of ] 54,000 in the province of Ulster only, by their own computation ; -aldch, 
added to the other three, makes up the total sum of that slaughter, in all likelihood, 
four times as great." 

Let it be observed, however, that there are in the Philadelphia Library, two editions 
of Milton's works complete, dated 1738 and 1753, in both of which the latter part 
of the passage, in Italics, is omitted. 

We are therefore reduced to this dilemma : — either Harris was guilty of a base 
fraud and literary forgery, or Milton stated the falsehood, as above quoted ; but as 
Harris was a man of respectable character, and as, moreover, his work has passed 
the ordeal of criticism in England, the former supposition cannot be admitted. In- 
deed the supposition of such a fraud would be to the last degree incredible. The 
only conclusion that follows, is, that the passage is fairly quoted by Harris ; and that 
Milton, ashamed of the monstrous and extravagant legend, to which he had lent the 
sanction of his name, struck it out, after the second edition of his work. This re- 
cantation extenuates the crime, but by no means does away the original guilt of the 
criminal. 

* This difficulty requires explanation. The powerful influence of the oligarchy 
in Ireland, which triumphantly styles itself, 'Hhe Protestant ascendancy," has been 
erected on the basis of the frauds of this portion of the history of Ireland, whereby 
they have been enabled to enslave, oppress, and plunder their fellow-subjects at their 
pleasure: and "Great is the Diana of Ephesus," whenever the "craft -was in 
danger," by any serious ellbrts to dispel the mists of prejudice, they have spared 
neither pains nor expense to counteract the Godlike purpose, and to perpetuate the 
falsehoods, on the basis of which their predominance was originally established. 
Their most sacred maxim, like that of all other oppressors, has been — Divide et 
impera. ' 

1 Warner, 297. 2 Page 337. London, 175S. 



22 VINDICLE HIBERNIC.E. 

observers have styled histories "splendid romances;" to which desig- 
nation unfortunately a large portion of tliem are fairly entitled. 

In the accounts given of the same occurrences, by cotemporaneous 
writers, of adverse parties or hostile nations, theie is often such a total 
discrepancy, that they hardly agree in any thing but the dates and 
names of persons and places ; vv^ere these stricken out, it could not be 
conceived that the narratives had reference to the same events. And 
the most extraordinary trait in the afl'air is, that these contradictory 
and irreconcileable accounts are frequently bolstered up, on both sides, 
by the solemnity of appeals to heaven, in the form of oaths, taken 
by persons, who, from their standing in society, ought to be above the 
suspicion, not merely of perjury, but of the slightest departure from 
truth. 

As one appropriate example is of more avail than a long train of 
reasoning, I wish to call the reader's attention to a striking and recent 
case, w^hich places the difficulty I have stated in the strongest point of 
light, and cannot fail to impress him with a clear idea of its serious im- 
portance. On the 16th of May, 1811, a rencontre took place between 
two vessels of war, American and English, the President and Little 
Belt, in which the latter lost a number of men, and was in imminent 
danger of sinking. In every material fact, the accounts of the com- 
manders were entirely different; and to such an extraordinary degree, 
that there is no room to ascribe the discordance to mistake. There 
must have been clear, deliberate, and disgraceful falsehood on one side 
or the other. There is no other alternative. • 

Commodore Rodgers stated, that he hailed first, — that his inquiries 
what was the name of the vessel, &c. were returned by similar in- 
quiries, — and that, when he repeated his hail, he was saluted by a 
shot, which he of course returned; — that then three others were fired 
by the Little Belt, which were followed by the rest of her broadside, 
and all her musketry ; — that he then '^^ gave a general order to fire, ^"^ 
which, in " from four to six minutes," partially silenced the guns of 
his antagonist, and induced the commodore to order a cessation of 
firing; — that in four minutes, the fire was renewed by the Little Belt, 
and returned by the President with so much effect, that the gaff" and 
colours of the former were down, her mainsail-yard upon the cap, and 
her fire silenced. 

Captain Bingham, on the contrary, stated, that he first hailed the 
President, of which there was no notice taken ; — that he was hailed 
afterwards by that vessel, and the inquiry accompanied by "a broad- 
side,'''' which was " instantly returned." He adds, " the action then 
became general, and continued for three quarters of fan hour, when 
the President ceased firing, and appeared to be on fire." " He was," 
he adds, " obliged to desist from firing," that is to say, from the attack 
on the President, as the latter vessel "falling off'," his guns "would 
not bear on her." However quixotic and ludicrous it may appear, the 
inference is not overstrained, that he wished it to be understood that 
the President had escaped from him ! 

The discrepancy here is extreme. Each party charges the other 
with the original offence of the aggression. This is all-important. 
The American commander states, -that, on the first rencontre, he si- 
lenced the Little Belt in from four to six minutes, — and, on the second, 
in from three to five : whereas, according to Captain Bingham, the ac- 



PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 23 

tion continued ^^ three qtiartcrs of an hour,'''' and was discontinued by 
Commodore Rodgers, whose vessel was on fire ; — and he, [Captain B.J 
was disabled from pursuing the President, in consequence of the state 
of his sails and rigging. To cap the climax, the depositions of a num- 
ber of the officers and men on both sides were taken, and appeared to 
confirm these contradictory accounts ; so that, to gross and revolting 
falsehood, is added barefaced perjury, on one. side or the other. It is 
Avholly irrelevant to my purpose to inquire where the falsification rest- 
ed. Subsequent events, however, have shed amply adequate light 
upon the subject. 

This strong and pointed case merits the most serious attention of 
the reader. To the falsehood and perjury involved in it, there were 
no extraordinary temptations, except on the part of the aggressing com- 
mander. It might have been of great importance, indeed, to him to 
exonerate himself from the criminality of the aggression, in order to 
escape the danger of being cashiered; but the officers and men had no 
such temptation : nor is it easy to perceive what temptation they could 
have had to the commission of such a heinous offence. 

Although no analogous facts, how strong soever, could enhance the 
cogency of the inferences deducible from this incident, two are given 
in the annexed note.* 

There is one point of view in which this affair of the Little Belt may 
be regarded, that ought not to be overlooked. In the present state of 
printing, and the open, unreserved communication between nations, 
flagrant fraud and falsehood can hardly flatter themselves to escape de- 
tection. This consideration must have powerful operation to circum- 
scribe and restrain them, and was comparatively inoperative in former 
times, when, of course, the inducements to fraud and perjury were in- 
comparably greater than they are at present. 

The application remains, and can hardly fail to have been anticipat- 
ed by the reader. The slenderness of the temptation to perjury, and 
the absolute certainty of detection, did not deter from it in this case. 
What a lesson on history generally — but more especially on Irish 
history ! What dependence, under this view of the materials from 
w^hich history is formed, can be placed on the accounts of the affairs 
of Ireland, which are wholly ex parte — where the temptations to per- 
jury were so enormous, (being nothing less than the fee-simple of mil- 
lions of acres,) where detection was so difficult, and where numberless 
palpable perjuries incontestibly proved beyond doubt, are on record? 

In such cases of discrepancy as that of the President and Little Belt, 
(and similar ones are to be found on almost every topic of importance,) 
how can even a cotemporary historian, with very considerable advan- 

• Two cis-Atlantic cases, of recent discussion, afford abundant matter for re- 
flexion. They are, the battle of Bunker's Hill, and the capture of Major Andre. The 
opinions that have heretofore universally prevailed, respecting the conduct of General 
Putnam in the former, and on the character and motives of the captors of the un- 
fortunate major, have been of late brought into controversy, and debated with great 
zeal and ardour. On the latter question, the opinion, so honourable to the parties, 
as well as to their country, whereby the procedure is rendered so invaluable and 
beneficial to the world in point of example, has been unanimously confirmed by the 
public. But with respect to General Putnam, the question appears to be adhiic sub 
judice, after having slept for above forty years. So much for history, even under 
its most favourable aspect ! What must it be under its worst ? 



24 VINDICLi: HIBEUNIC^. 

tages, decide between the contradictory accounts ? He must have been 
an eye-witness ol' few of the events he narrates. For all the rest he 
.must necessarily depend on the accounts of others. He must either 
rely on one side or the other, or blend the two accounts together. la 
either case, error appears, as already observed, absolutely inevitable. 
And even of those events in which the writer has himself been a party, 
he must derive much of his information from others. An officer, who 
has been engaged in a battle, can have had but a limited view of the 
passing events. Armies sometimes occupy miles square ; and therefore 
small is the portion that can be accurately surveyed by any individual. 
If this view be correct, as I think can hardly be disputed, even so 
far as respects history written with a sincere regard to truth, and a' 
fixed and unalterable determination not to swerve, intentionally, from 
her luminous path, how deplorable must be the case with histories, of 
which the original authors were under the influence of all the hideous 
passions that deform and degrade human nature, and assimilate men to 
demons — dire insatiable rancour, national hostility, a ravenous thirst 
for the blood* and estatest of the natives, and bigotry of the blindest 
and most malignant character,! ^"^ where the modern authors are ser- 
vile copyists, who implicitly follow in the beaten and foul path of their 
predecessors ! 

* However horrible it may appear, I shall satisfactorily prove in the sequel fiom 
Carte, Leland and Warner, that the total extirpation of tJie Roman Catholics of 
Ireland was contemplated by the ruling party in England and Ireland for a con- 
siderable time after the commencement of the insurrection of 1641. 

•(■ The confiscation of the whole island, except such portion qs was in the posses- 
sion of the Protestants and Presbyterians, shall be proved to have been another 
favourite project of that period. 

t Thank Heaven, we live in an enlightened age, whose liberality on the subject 
of differences in religious opinions, renders it difficult to conceive the deplorable 
bigotry and rancorous spirit of intolerance, that prevailed in that dark and perse- 
cuting era, the seventeenth century. Each denomination of Christians regarded its 
own opinions as infallible, and all others as heretical and damnable : and, next to the 
right of worshipping God as they thought proper, they prized the right to control, 
restrain, and persecute all who dared to differ from them. All abhorred toleration as 
the greatest abomination ; and instances ate to be found, of individuals and bodies 
-of men exculpating themselves from the charge of being friendly to it, as if it were 
some foul crime. The solemn league and covenant, which for a time, was most 
tyrannically enforced on all classes, expressly avowed its object to be "the extiupa- 
Tiox of Popery, prelacij, superstition, heresy, schism, and whatsoever shall be 
found to be contrary to sound doctrine and the power of Godliness." Popery had 
•originall}' an exclusive monopoly of the detestation of the Puritans; but when they 
had succeeded in suppressing it, the established religion, from its supposed affinity to 
Popery, became almost equally odious to them ; and, whenever they had the power, 
was prohibited under heavy penalties, not quite so severe, however, as those against 
Popeiy. " ITeresi!, schism, and whatsoever shall he found contrary to sound doc- 
trine cLud the poxver of Godliness," embraced every religious opinion or practice, 
which in the slightest degree varied from the Westminster Confession of Faith. 
This was the standard of perfection, by which the ruling powers, for a season, mea- 
sured rectitude or depravity of faith and conduct. It was the true theological and 
intellectual bed of Procrustes, whereby redundancies of opinion were to be lopped 
off", and deficiencies to be supplied. He who could not command or feign assent to 
the most minute particulars of this confession, was branded as a " delinquejit," no 
matter how orthodox he might be in general. The solemnization of Christmas, and 
various ceremonies, wholly indifferent in themselves, were interdicted, and made 
punishable. The use of the book of common prayer was likewise forbidden, under 
heavy penalties. 



CHAPTER ir. 25 



CHAPTER II. 

Situation of various conquered countries. The fate of Ireland more 
calamitous and wretched than that of almost any other subjugated 
nation. A flagitious code of laws. Murder and robbery legalized 
by act of Parliament. Despotic jjower of lords deputies. Martial 
law. 

" Every inconsiderable party, who, under pretence of loyalty, received the king's 
commission to repel the adversary in some particular district, became pestilent 
enemies to the inhabitants. Their properties, their lives, the chastity of their 
families, ivere all exposed to barbarians, ivho sought only to glut their brutal pas- 
sions, and by their horrible excesses, saith the annalist, purchased the curse of God 
and man." — Leiand, I. 33 1 . 

In most cases of conquered nations, the subjugated people, after 
scenes of desolation and slaughter, generally become amalgamated 
with their conquerors, and partake of their laws and privileges — or 
else the latter adopt those of the former. Thus the countries con- 
quered by the Romans enjoyed the benefit of Roman laws. The va- 
rious provinces from time to time conquered by the French were in- 
corporated with the rest of the country, and either had the benefit of 
the general laws, or retained their own provincial customs. 

When the Normans conquered England, the battle of Hastings ter- 
minated the havoc of the conquered nation. Great mutations of pro- 
perty took place, until the cravings of the conquerors were satisfied. 
They then ceased for ever. The conquerors and the conquered were 
consolidated into one common mass, and formed but one people. In 
a hundred years all distinction between them was wholly lost. 

Wales, too, when conquered by Edward I. after the vengeance of 
the ruthless conqueror was satisfied by the immolation of the bards, 
enjoyed as much prosperity as during her independence, perhaps more. 
There were no wars, no massacres, no rapines, no acts of attainder, no 
confiscations of millions of acres. 

The conquest of China by the Tartars was similar in point of life 
and property — but wholly different as to laws, customs and manners, 
all of which were imparted by the conquered nation to the conquerors. 

But to the ill-fated Irish such happiness was unfortunately denied. 
The sordid and selfish views of the Irish administrations issued a man- 
date of proscription against them. Age succeeded age, and found a 
wretched system in constant operation, to prevent the amalgamation of 
the two nations into one, and to expose the unhappy natives as a con- 
stant incentive to the avarice and other baleful passions of the invaders 
and their descendants, and a constant prey to their violence, without 
the shadow of the protection of law or justice. In fact, to the un- 
bridled indulgence of those passions, which it has been the steady aim 
of all wise legislators to curb and control by strong penal sanctions, 

4 



^v/ 



26 VINDICIiE HIBEKNICiE. 

this vile code held out every encouragement.* It combined almost all 
the odious features, which have at any time distinguished the worst 
governments in the world. Its inevitable tendency — indeed, its grand 
object — was to draw an eternal line of separation between the two 
descriptions of inhabitanis — the English and their descendants, and the 
native Irish, and to perpetuate a deadly, rancorous and interminable 
hostility between them. In consequence, Ireland, for nearly four hun- 
dred years, was a great human slaughter-house, deluged with blood. 
Proofs of this state of things in the fourth chapter. 

To the mass of my readers this hideous picture will appear a carica- 
ture, pourtrayed by a heated imagination. This is not wonderful. — 
For that such a horrible system should have continued for centuries is 
truly incredible. And therefore I feel it incumbent on me to prove by 
testimony of the most indubitable character, that it is a fair representa- 
tion of a system, which, for above five hundred years, blighted and 
blasted one of the fairest portions of the earth. 

In order to establish these positions, I shall in the first place give a 
sketch of a few of the most striking of the cruel laws enacted against 
the native Irish, and then detail the eflects they produced. 

The first law to be noticed is one whereby the murder of an Irish- 
man was punishable only by a fine — whereas the murder of an English- 
man was a capital ofience.f The flagrant injustice of this law, and 
its pernicious eflects on society, are too plain and palpable to require 
comment. 

Marriage or fosterage with the natives, or gossipred, which was a 
tie of uncommon force among the Irish, were by law declared high 
treason, — a law tending to render eternal the hostility, and spread wide 
the devastation and horrors of warfare, between the aboriginals and 
the English colonists, — a law, in a word, of the most baleful ten- 
dency.:!: 

Forfeiture of land was the penalty on an Englishman, using the 
Irish language, or Irish customs, unless security were given to renounce 
them.§ 

Heavy penalties were enacted against such of the English as allowed 
Irishmen to graze their lands. || 

The property of an Irishman about to depart the country, might be 

* That it held out encouragement to robbery and murder, will appear in the suc- 
ceeding pages, from a view of the odious code of laws established there. 

"f" " The murder of ail Iris/imnn was punishable oiily by a fine, a slight restraint 
on the rage of insolence and rapine ; while the murder of an Englishman was a 
capital oflence in the Irish native." — Leland, I. 329. 

i: " It was enacted, that marriage, nurture of infants, and gossipred with the Irish, 
should be considered and punished as high treason !.' !" — Idem, 378. 

§ " If any man of English race shall use any Irish name, the Irish language, or 
the Irish apparel, or any mode or custom of the Irish, the act provides that he shall 
forfeit lands and tenements, until he hath given security in the court of chancery, to 
conform in every particular to the English manners; or, if he have no lands, that he 
shall be imprisoned until the like security be given." — Idem, 378. 

II "\tivas also made highly penal to the English, to permit their Irish neigh- 
bours to graze their lands ; to present them to ecclesiastical benefices; or to re- 
ceive them in monasteries or religious houses; to entertain their bards, who pervert- 
ed their imaginations by romantic tales, or their news tellers, who seduced them by 
false reports." — Idem, 379. 



CHAPTER II. 27 

seized by an Englishman, who was entitled to one-half as a premium 
• for the robbery.* 

An Englishman, who was robbed by an Irishman, might reprize 
- himself on the whole sept to which the offender belonged. And if he 
falsely asserted he was robbed, by what means could he be convicted 
of the falsehood? This act legalized, and of course held out strong 
encouragement to a constant and systematic course of robbery and 
plunder.! 

Englishmen who claimed debts as due by Irishmen, might in cor- 
porate towns, without the aid of a magistrate, seize the property of 
the debtors if they came within the precincts. And there was nothing 
to prevent the seizure in the case of a pretended as well as of a real 
bona fide debt.| 

By a law made in the reign of Edward IV. it was enacted, that any 
Englishman, meeting an Irishman robbing, or gf^ing to rob, or coming 
from robbing, unless he had an Englishman in his company, might 
kill him, and cut off his head, without trial ;§ and, on bringing the 
head to the portrief of the town, he was further authorized to levy 
" with his own hands," and those of his aiders in the murder, two 
pence for every plough land, one penny for every halfjuplough land, 
as well as for every house and property worth forty shillings. This 
law did not merely legalize murder, but offered a premium for it; any 
Englishman might, at his pleasure, cut off the head of an Irishman, || 
and declare that he was going to rob, or coming from robbing: which 
assertions it was impossible to disprove ; and a man, going to, or 
coming from, church, might be murdered, on pretence that he was 
going to rob, or coming from robbing. The murderer could then 

* " The person and goods of an Irishman, attempting to transport himself with- 
out license, might be seized by any subject, who was to receive one moiety of the 
goods for such service, the other to be forfeited to the king." — Idem, 11. 9. 

-j- " If any Englishman be damnified by an Irishman not amesnable to law, he 
may reprize himself upon the -whole sept or nation." — Cox, 172. 

+ " As to most of the corporate townes there, it is graunted by their charter, that 
they may, every man by himselfe, without an officer, (for that were more tolerable,) 
for any debt, distraine the goods of any Irish, being found within their liberty, or 
but passing thorough their townes."' — Spenceh, 50. 

§ " It shall be lawful to all manner of men that find any thieves robbing by day 
or by night, or going or coming to rob or steal, in or out, goiiig or coming, having 
no faithful man of good name and fame in their company, in English apparel, upon 
any of the liege people of the king, to take and kill them, and TO CUT OFF 
THEIR HEADS, -without any impeachment of 07ir sovereign lord the king, his 
heirs, officers, or ministers, or of any others. 

" And it shall be lawful to the bringer of the said head, and his aiders to the 
same, for to distrain and levy by their own hands, of every man having one plough 
land in the barony where the said thief was so taken, two pence ; and of every man 
having half a plough land, one penny ; and of every man having one house, and 
goods to the value of forty shillings, one penny; and of every other cottier, having 
one house, and smoke, one halfpenny." — Statutes, 21. 

II The statute does not actually mention " an Irishman" — but that such is its in- 
tent and purpose cannot be for a moment doubted; for otherwise why should tho 
company of a man of good name in English apparel, be sufficient to protect the 
real or supposed thiefl But all doubt on the subject is removed by the fact, that 
the murder of an Englishman, or the descendant of an Englishman, as above stated, 
was a capital crime — and of course this summary process of decapitation would not 
be countenanced so far as regarded the inhabitants of the pale, 



28 VINDICL?3 HIBERNIC^. 

levy contributions on the barony, as a remuneration for the slaughter ; 
and, considering the deadly hostility between the two nations, and the 
slight importance attached to the life of an Irishman, it is far from im- 
probable that many hundreds of them were thus decapitated ; and that 
the business of chopping of!" heads was made as regular a trade, and as 
profitable a means of subsistence, as in some countries is the employ- 
ment of shooting wolves or bears. 

By another law, any man found within the pale, with the beard on 
the upper lip, which was the Irish custom, might be seized, with his 
goods, as an Irish enemy, and ransomed as such.* 

By another, five of the best men of every stirpe were obliged to de- 
liver up all of their surname charged with oftences, or to answer for 
the offences themselves !-\ Of course, when criminals escaped, their 
namesakes, how innocent soever, underwent the penalty of their of- 
fences ! 

If any bishop or archbishop promoted an Irishman to the situation 
of a canon, or to any ecclesiastical situation whatever, he forfeited the 
whole amount of his living.:}: 

The system adopted in Ireland secured neither the lives nor the pro- 
perty of the #atives, nor the chastity of their wives or daughters. — 
Their situation, as justly observed by Sir John Davies, was incompa- 
rably worse than that of foreigners ; for the life or property of a French- 
man, a Spaniard, or a Mussulman was adequately protected within the 
English pale. If any of them were robbed or murdered, the criminal 
would undergo the sentence of the law, and in the latter case would be 
hanged. But if any Englishman was robbed, or pretended to be robbed, 
by an Irishman, he might, as we have seen, without the interference 
of an officer, seize on the property of any innocent Irishman of the 
same sept : and, as above stated, ihe murder of an Irishman was not 
punished with death ; it was redeemed by a fine. 

" In all the Parliament-rolls which are extant from the fortieth year of EdwarJ 
the Third, when the statutes of Kilkenny were enacted, till the reign of king Henry 
the Eighth, we find the degenerate and disobedient English called rebels, but the Irish 
ivhich -ivere not in the king^s peace, are called enemies." — Davies, 85. 

" All these statutes speak of E7iglish rebels, and Irish enemies, as if the Irish had 

* " JVb manner of man, that will be taken for an Englishman, shall have no beard" 
["these two negatives are in the statute] " above his mouth ; that is to say, shall have 
no hair upon his upper lip ; so that the said upper lip shall be once at least shaven 
every fortnight; or of equal growth with the nether lip. And if any man be found 
among the English contrary hereunto, then it shall be lawful to every man to take 
them and their goods as Irish enemies, and to ransom them as such." — Statutes, 5. 

f " Five persons of the best of every stirpe or nation of Irishry, and in the coun- 
tries that be not yet shire grounds, and till they be shire grounds, shall be bound to 
bring in, to be justified by law, all idle persons of their surname which shall be 
charged with any offence ; or else satisfi/, of their oivn proper goods, the hurts by 
them committed to the parties grieved ; and also yield to the queen's majesty, her 
heirs and successors, such Jines, as by the lord deputy, governor or governors and 
council of this realm, shall be assessed for their offencesP — Statutes, 229. 

^ " Proclamation went foorth, that no meere Irish borne should be made major, 
bailifte, porter, officer, or minister in anie towne or place within the English domi- 
nions : nor that ani archbishop, abbat, prior, or anie other, being of the king\ 
allegiance, upon forfeiture of all that he might forfeit, should advance anie that was 
meere Irish borne to the roome of a canon, or to have anie other ecclesiastical bene- 
fice that laie among the English subjects." — Hollinshed, VI. 257. 



CHAPTER 11. 29 

never been in the condition of subjects, but always oiit of the protection of the law, 
and were indeed in worse case than aliens of any foreign realm thai was in amity 
■with the crown of England. For by clivers heavy penal laws, the English were 
forbidden to marry, to foster, to make gossips with the Irish, or to have any trade or 
coromerce in their markets or fairs : nay, there was a law made, no longer since than 
the twenty-eighth year of Henry the Eighth, that the English should not marry with 
any person of Irish blood, though he had gotten a charter of denization, unless he had 
done both homage and fealty to the king in the Chancery, and were also bound by 
recognizance with sureties, to continue a loyal subject. Whereby it is manifest that 
such as had the government of Ireland, under the crown of England, did intend to 
make a perpetual separation and enmity between the English and the Irish, pre- 
tending, no doubt, that the Eiiglisli should in the end root out the Irish ; which the 
English not being able 1o do, caused a perpetual war* between the nations, which 
continued four hundred and odd years." — Davies, 86. 

The Irish code of laws was intended to lay the ahoriginals prostrate 
at the feet of the English of the pale — and, I repeat, to expose them to 
the fierce operation of the worst passions of human natm-e, in the gra- 
tification of which they afl'orded uncontrolled sway to the invaders and 
their descendants. The latter, however, in their turn, drank to the 
dregs the bitter cup of proscription and desolation. Their descent 
afforded them no security against the ruthless violence of the Irish 
administrations and their hungry satellites. In fact, the Courcies, the 
Baltinglasses, the Fitzgeralds, the Butlers, &c. possessing more wealth, 
better cultivated lands, and more elegant habitations, than the Irish, 
afforded stronger temptation to rapine and violence, and therefore were 
more frequently their victims on a large scale. Though they were 
not subject to the operation of those wicked laws, they were the victims 
of the needy dependents on the government. There was this great 
difference between the fate of the two descriptions of people. The 
aboriginals laboured under a double hardship — they suffered from the 
rigorous execution of wicked laws, and the violation of human and 
divine law. The descendants of the English invaders suffered under 
the latter grievance only, as will fully appear in the succeeding chapter. 
Most of the laws for the government of the pale were as unexception- 
able as could reasonably be expected from the barbarous era in which 
they were enacted. 

But every feature of the code, as .it regarded the Jrish race, bore the 
strongest and most indelible marks of the most consummate weakness 
of head, and the most dire malignity of heart. 

Such a system could not fail to produce deleterious consequences on 
society. Lawless tyranny, oppression, and spoliation, on the one 
hand, and on the other the most affecting scenes of distress and misery, 



* " In a word, if the English would neither in peace govern them by the law, nor 
could in war root them out by the sword, must they not needs be pricks in their eyes, 
and thorns in their sides, till the world's end, and so the conquest never be brought 
to perfection." — Davies, 91. 

" The Irish had always been considered not as subjects, but as aliens, and even as 
enemies, out of the protection of the law : in consequence whereof, all marriages^and 
alliances, and even commerce with them were prohibited, and they might be oppress- 
ed, spoiled, and killed by the English at pleasure, not being allowed to bring any 
action, nor ant iwatrisixioN lying for the murder of an Irishman !! This 
made it impracticable for them to exercise any commerce, or settle in any towns, but 
forced them to stand on their defence, to fly to the mountains, and there live in a 
barbarous manner." — Cartk, I. 13, 



30 VINDICI^. HIBERNIC.E. 

were tlie necessary consequence. Any man of strong mind, who stu- 
died this code attentively, might, without any knowledge of the actual 
history of Ireland, form a tolerably accurate idea of the course of heart- 
rending events which that blood-stained history presents to view, to 
harrow up the feelings.* 

I presume that the annexed statements, fully justify the strong pic- 
ture I have drawn of the deplorable state of Ireland, and its grievous 
suflerings.f It will scarcely be denied, that the government of the 

• That a bad government corrupts a nation is a truth attested by the whole course 
of history. The following picture displays in vivid colours the awful effects of the 
atrocious system pursued in Ireland. 

" This was then the present state of all Ireland, altogether devoured xvith robberies, 
murders, riots, treasons, cinill and intestine ivarres, and few or none assured and 
faithfull to hir highnesse out of the English pale, and out of cities and townes : and 
yet the one being gentlemen and living by their lands, by continuall spoiles and 
robberies were decaied ; the other by the lossc of their traffike, being merchants, im- 
poverished and brought to such extremities, as not able to relieuo and mainteine 
themselves." — Hoilinshed, VI. 332. 

■[- " The oppression exercised with impunity in every particular district ; the depre- 
dations everywhere committed among the inferior orders of the people, not by open 
enemies alone, but those who called themselves friends and protectors, and who 
justified their outrages by the plea of lawful authority ; t/ieir avarice and cruelty, 
their Jdundering and massacres xvere still more ruinous than the defeat of an army, 
or the loss of a city ! ! ! The wretched sufferers had neither power to repel, nor 
law to restrain or vindicate their injuries. In times of general commotion, laws the 
most wisely framed, and most equitably administered, are but of little moment. But 
now the very soi/rce of public Justice ivas corrupted and poisoned," — Leland, I. 
328. 

" At a distance from the supremo seat of power, and with the advantage of being 
able to make such representations of the state of Ireland as they pleased, the English 
vicegerents acted with the less reserve. They were generally tempted to undertake 
the conduct of a disordered state, for the sake of private emolument, and their object 
•was pursued ivithout delicacy or integ'rity, sometimes tuith inhuman violence"-— 
LELANn, II. 15. 

" A set of needy and rapacious adventurers passing over from Britain, in a con- 
stant succession, made no scruple of enriching themselves by the most unjustifiable 
methods. There xvas not a native xuito could be secure from their rapacity." — 
Crawfotid, I. 177. 

The annexed description of one of these harpies, will serve, mutatis mutandis, 
for a large poition of the rulers of Ireland for above four centuries. 

" Furnival departed with the execration of all those, clergy and laity alike, whose 
lands lie had rax'aged, whose castles he had seized, -vhose fortiines had been im- 
paired by his extortion and exactions, or who had shared in the distress arising from 
the debts he left undischarged." — Leiand, II. 12. 

" By the new adventurers, employed in the service of the crown, both were regard- 
ed indiscriminately as one people equally disaffected, and dangerous to the English 
interest. These men, -who had raised large fortunes in Ireland, and frequently 
upon the ruin of the old natives, affected to be considered as the only loyal subjects 
of the realm ; and artfully contrived that even the most respectable of the old Eng- 
lish families should be regarded by the crown with suspicion, and excluded from 
every office of trust and honour." — Leiand, III. 101. 

".The true cause which for a long time fatally opposed the gradual coalition of 
the Irish and English race, under one form of government, was that the great Eng- 
lish settlers found it more for their immediate ijiterest, that a free course should be 
left to their oppressions; Xh.'O.X.many of those whose lands they coveted should be con- 
sidered as aliens ; that they should be furnished for their petty wars by arbitrary 
exactions: and in their rapines and massacres be freed from the terrors of a rigid- 
ly impartial and severe tribunal." — Leiand, I. 267. 



CHAPTER II. 31 

Turks, however oppressive and despotic, was beneficent and patriar- 
chal towards the Greeks, compared with that of Ireland under the Eng- 
lish deputies for three or four hundred years. A Turk was not allowed 
by law to plunder a Greek — nor to murder him on paying a fine. The 
Ottoman policy never excited hostility between different Greek chief- 
tains for the purpose of thinning the population, and despoiling the 
subject race of the fair inheritance of their fathers, as was almost uni- 
formly the case from Henry II. to Elizabeth, inclusive. It was not 
high treason for a Turkish woman to nurse a Greek child — nor for a 
Greek woman to nurse a Turkish child. The Greeks were not liable 
to punishment for the crimes of their namesakes. They suffered neither 
pains nor penalties in Turkey for their religion — nor were their priests 
banished from their native country for worshipping the Living God 
according to the dictates of their conscience. In one word, it would 
he in vain to search in the Moslem code, enacted for the government 
of the Greeks, any parallel with the odious features of the legislation 
of Ireland, for so many centuries of heart-rending misery as the con- 
quest entailed upon that island.* 

There can be no doubt that the cause of humanity would have gain- 
ed immensely, had Henry II. exterminated the whole natron, men, 
women and children ; provided he had peopled the island with an Eng- 
lish colony, and imparted to them the benefit of English laws. The 
population, at the time of the invasion, was probably not more than 7 
or 800,000, if so many. If extirpated, their sufierings would have 
been soon terminated. The English colonists and their descendants 
would have enjoyed a high degree of happiness and prosperity during 
the six hundred and sixty years which have since elapsed. Whereas, 
for the five hundred years between the descent of the English and the 
final subjugation of the country under William III. the average waste 
of human life could not have been less than 10,000 per annum — 
amounting on the whole to 5,000,000. f But the loss of life can only 
be regarded as a secondary consideration. The havoc that war makes 
of human beings bears no comparison with the havoc it makes of hu- 

* In a pathetic address framed by a convention of " the prelates, earls, barons and 
Commons of the land," held at Kilkenny, and presented to Edward III. there is a 
long enumeration of the multiplied and vexatious grievances sulYcred by the inhabi- 
tants of the pale from the tyranny and injustice of their governors, the details of 
which would be too long to insert. Leland has condensed it as follows : — 

" Chiefly, and with particular warmth and earnestness, they represent to the king, 
that his English subjects of Ireland had been traduced and misrepresented to the 
throne, by those who had been sent from England to govern them ; men who came 
into the kingdom without knowledge of its state, circumstances, or interest ; -whose 
sole object ivas to repair their shattered fortunes ; too poor to support their state, 
■much less to indulge their passions, until they had filled their coders by extortion, 
to the great detriment and affliction of the people ; that, notwithstanding such mis- 
representations, the English subjects of Ireland had ever adhered in loyalty and alle- 
giance to the crown of England, had maintained the land for the king and his pro- 
genitors, served frequently both against the Irish and their foreign enemies, and 
mostly at their own charges." — Leland, I. 358. 

f Sir William Petty calculates the destruction that took place in Ireland between 
1641 and 1652, by war, famine, pestilence, and banishment, at above 600,000, of 
whom the banished were not more than 40,000. This goes far towards proving my 
statement to be within bounds. — Petty, 18. 



33 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC.^. 

man happiness, particularly when it brings in its train the plague and 
famine; as it so frequently did in Ireland. But even independent of 
plague and famine, the suflerings of the survivors ordinarily far outweigh 
those of the wretches who fall a sacrifice to the horrors of war. I for- 
bear for the present to touch on the misery and sufferings of the Irish 
peasantry during the whole of the last and the present century. 

Subject to every species of oppression and outrage, that rampant 
injustice and unbridled licentiousness could inflict, the Irish presented 
repeated supplications to the crown of England, to be admitted to the 
benefit of the English laws, proffering due obedience to their monarch. 
To such a reasonable request, it would be difficult to conceive an objec- 
tion. It promised an abundant harvest of solid advantages to the 
rulers and their subjects. The former would not only be spared the 
expense of numerous armies — but might derive very considerable reve- 
nue from the island, instead of its proving a heavy burden. 

The latter would be devested of the odious and ruinous character of 
enemies, in which alone they were regarded by the laws of the land — 
and by the people of the pale. Their lives — the chastity of their 
wives and daughters — their fortunes would no longer be the sport of 
lawless and unprincipled adventurers.* 

The wars in Ireland cost Queen Elizabeth 3,400,000/. in ten years, 
independent of the enormous sacrifice of the lives of her English and 
Irish subjects. Whereas had Ireland received the benefit of the Eng- 
lish laws, and been allowed to avail herself of her natural advantages, 
she might at that time have yielded a revenue of probably from 50 
to 150,000 pounds annually to the crown of England. 

—•»©©««•<— 

* " But perhaps the Irish in former times did wilfully refuse to be subject to the 
laws of England, and would not be partakers of the benefit thereof, though the crown 
of England did desire it; and therefore they were rcpiited aliens, outlaws and ene- 
mies? Assuredly the contrary doth appear, as well by the charters of denization 
purchased by the Irish in all ages, as by a petition preferred by them to the king, anno 
2, Edward the Third, desiring that an act might pass in Ireland, whereby all the Irish 
might be enabled to use and enjoy the laws of England without purchasing of par- 
ticular denizations." — Da vies, 78. 

" The great lords of Ireland had informed the king that the Irish might not 
be naturalized, without damage and prejudice either to themselves or to the crown. 

" But I am well assured that the Irish desired to be admitted to the benefit of the 
law, not only in tliis petition exhibited to king Edward the Third, but by all their 
submissions made to king Richard the Second, and to the Lord Thomas of Lancas- 
ter, before the wars of the two houses ; and afterwards to the Lord Leonard Gray, and 
Sir Anthony St. Leger, when king Henry the Eighth began to reform this king- 
dom." — Idem, 88. 

" For the space of two hundred years, at least, after the first arrival of Henry the 
Second in Ireland, the Irish would gladly have embraced the laws of England, and 
did earnestly desire the benefit and protection thereof; which being denied them, did 
of necessity cause a continual bordering war between the English and Irish." — 
Idem, 101. 

" This then I note as a great defect in the civil policy of this kingdom : in that 
for the space of tlirce hundred and fifty years at least, after the conquest first at- 
tempted, the English laws were not communicated to the Irish, nor the benefit and 
protection thereof allowed unto them, though they earnestly desired and sought the 
same ; for as long as tlieij were out of the protection of the law, so as evert/ En- 
glishman might oppress, spoil and kill them xuithont control, how was it possible, 
that they should be otiier than outlaws and enemies to the crown of England? 
If the king would not admit them to the condition of subjects, how could they learn 



CHAPTER II. 33 

But such an arrangement, how beneficent soever in its operation, 
would mar the views of the swarms of English adventurers who were 
disgorged on the island from time to time. It would debar them of 
the rich harvest which they successively reaped of the property of the 
oppressed natives, to whom, moreover, it would afford an opening for 
some portion of the posts of honour and profit in the gift of the govern- 
ment, from which they were unjustly excluded by law. 

On one occasion the Irish offered eight thousand marks to the king 
to be admitted to the benefit of the English laws.* But the influence 
of those who profited by the depredations they perpetrated on the Irish 
was sufiiciently powerful to defeat the application. 

Warner, who, as I have already stated, is the least liable to excep- 
tion of all the English writers on Irish history, has fallen into an extra- 
ordinary error connected with this branch of my subject, which is con- 
tained in the following lines — 

" The distinction of nations was so carefully kept up on the side of the Irish ! that 
710 laivs nor allurements could for many ages persuade them to part with their lan- 
guage, their habits, or the most barbarous of their customs ! ! !" — Warneh, 9. 

This is a most enormous error — and is put down for ever, by the 
preceding quotations from Davies and Leland, on this subject, particu- 
larly the former — unexceptionable authorities. It is impossible to find 
in the history of Irish legislation previous to the reign of James I. a 
single serious effort to induce the Irish to harmonize or coalesce with 
the English or their descendants, or to "«//wre" them to habits of 
civilization. Its whole tendency was to brutalize and reduce them to 
a savage state, to enslave and plunder them, and deluge the land with 
blood. " To part with their language !" The idea of the great mass 
of a nation, more than nineteen-twentieths, " parting with their 
language," and adopting that of a handful of invaders, who carried 
on a Vandalic war against them almost unceasingly, is so truly puerile 
as to be unworthy of Warner. 

to acknowledge and obey him as their sovereign? When they might not converse 
or commerce with any civil man, nor enter iiito any toxvn or city -withont peri! of 
their lives ; whither should they fly, but into the woods and mountains, and there 
live in a wild and barbarous manner ?" — Idem, 90, 

" This unhappy people, wasted by their own follies and the oppression of their 
neighbours, smarting with the bad success of their late precipitate insurrections, and 
recalled to pacific measures by the union of the English lords, embraced the present 
season of general tranquillity to address themselves once more to the throne of Eng- 
land, and petitioned that all those odious distinctions which had so long deluged the 
land with blood, should at length be abolished ; that the Irish inhabitants should be 
admitted to the state and privileges of English subjects, without obliging individuals 
to sue for special charters. The petition, as usual, was remitted to the chief gov- 
ernor Darcey who had succeeded to the prior. He was directed to refer it to the 
Irish parliament; and as usual, it was clandestinely defeated or openly rejected." — 
Leland, I. 341. 

* " An application was made to Uflbrd, the chief governor, and eight thousand 
marks offered to the king, provided he would grant the free enjoyment of the laws 
of England to the whole body of the Irish inhabitants. A petition, wrung from a 
people tortured by the paiyiful/eelings of oppression, in itself so just and reasona- 
ble, and in its consequences so fair and promising, could not but be favourably re- 
ceived by a prince possessed with exalted ideas of policy and government, and, where 
ambition did not interfere, a friend to justice." *** "His wisdom and rectitude 
were fatally counteracted." — Lela>-d, I. 285. 388, 



34 VINDICLE HIBERNIC.E. 

The power of the deputies was incomparably more despotic than 
that of the most arbitrary of the English monarchs. They could fine 
and imprison at their pleasure — and were not only invested with au- 
thority to execute martial law, but to grant that power to deputies under 
them, to marshals, and sheriffs !* They were moreover authorized to 
grant away the lands of English rebels and Irish enemies ; and, as the 
Irish were all, in the eye of the law, regarded as enemies, they were 
of course, defenceless vistims of their Algerine depredators. 

This single feature of the government — the exercise of martial law, 
by the subaltern agents of the deputies! — would be sufficient to ac- 
count satisfactorily for the almost incessant warfare that prevailed in 
Ireland. In the best state of society, there is scarcely a man to whom 
a power so tremendous can be safely entrusted. It inevitably pro- 
duces corruption of morals and manners — as is fully proved by the 
very limited number of persons possessing uncontrolled power, whose 
names have not been consigned by the voice of history to the execra- 
tion of posterity. But in such a state of society as existed in Ireland, 
and under the dominion of the needy and unprincipled adventurers 
who flocked to that country in quest of wealth and power; its inevi- 

— "»«©«««•— 

* " He had power to make a deputy as often as he pleased, and he and his deputy 
had power, (among other minuter things) to grant to proper persons in the king's 
obedience, all lands and tenements taken aiid seized from Irish enemies or English 
rebels, and all other lands and tenements ofivhich the Irish enemies xvere anciently 
or then seized! and all other lands, tenements, rents, services, knights' fees, and ad- 
vowsons of churches, with all other ecclesiastical benefices forfeited, or to be forfeited 
to the king, or his progenitors, to hold to such grantees or their assigns in fee-simple, 
fee-tail for life or years, excepting such lands as have been annexed to the 
church."— Wabe, II. 93. 

"The lord justice from Waterford, upon notice of the trouble dailie increasing, 
sent a commission of the eleventh of Februarie, to Sir Warham Sentleger to be 
provost marshall, authorizing him to proceed according to the course of marshall 
laxu against all offenders, as the nature of his or their offenses did merit and de- 
serue ; so that the partie offender be not able to dispend fortie shillings by the yeare 
in land, or annuitie, or be not woorth ten pounds in goods: also that upon good 
cawses he male parlee and talke with anie rebell, and grant him a protection for ten 
daies: that he shall banish all idlers and sturdie beggers: that he shall apprehend 
aiders of outlawes and theeves, and execute all idle persons taken by night ! that 
he shall give in the name and names of such as shall refuse to aid and assist 
him : that in dooing of his service, he shall take horse-meat and mans-meat -where 
he list, in anie ma?ts house for one night: that every gentleman and noble man doo 
deliver him a book of all the names of their seruants and followers ; that he shall put 
in execution all statutes against merchants and other penall lawes, and the same to 
see to be read and published in everie church, by the parson and curat of the same: 
and that he doo everie moneth certifie the lord justice how manie persons, and of 
their offenses and qualities, that he shall execute and put to death ! with sundrie 
other articles, which generallie are comprised in every commission for the marshall 
law." — HoLLiNSHED, VI. 429. 

* " The Lord Dillon affirmed that martial la~u> had been practised, and men 
hanged by it in times of peace !" — Nalsojj, II. 60. 

"JMartial laxu is so frequent and ordinary in Ireland that it is not to be denied, 
and so little offensive there, that the common law takes no exception at it !" — Rush- 
WOHTH, VIII. 198. 

" I also granted unto sundrie, poxver to execute the martiall laxve, and lefte au- 
thoritie with Sir Edmund Butler, and Patrick Shurlock, to levie and entertayne men 
to prosequutc the outelawes, and suche as no man woulde answere for. I have 
hcrde, that, since that tyme som have been executed." — Sydney, I. 21. 



CHAPTER II. ^5 

table effect must have been to tear up honour, honesty, and morals by 
the roots, on the part of the rulers, and peace, happiness, and safety 
on the part of the subjects. The exercise of such a power, by such 
men, would be sufficient, in less than a quarter of a century, to de- 
moralize the most upright community on eaith. How baleful then 
must have been its operation for above four centuries among the na- 
tives of Ireland ! 

To the abuse of this power, there were incentives in Ireland, some- 
what peculiar to that country. The sheriffs and marshals in many 
eases possessed themselves of the property of the Avretches they im- 
molated.* They were therefore goaded on by tlie cravings of avarice 
to the abuse of martial law. This powerful impulse required nothing 
to aid it in its ferocious operations on the Irish. But other passions 
exerted their influence. A sheriff or marshal, who bore malice to- 
wards an Irishman, had a very simple means of gratifying that hateful 
passion under cover of the execution of the law. This state of things 
gave rise to a constant series of violence and rapine on the part of the 
sheriffs and marshals, against which the defenceless part of the popu- 
lation had no protection. Those who were in sufficient force resisted 
the outrage. The government, in almost every case, espoused the 
cause of the oppressors, and denounced the sufferers as traitors. In 
the researches into Irish history, I have met with but one case — there 
may, however, be a few others — of a governor or deputy attempting 
to repress or restrain the violence or depredation of the inferior agents 
of the government. Sir John Perrot tried in vain to arrest the rapa- 
cious career of Sir Richard Bingham, marshal in Connaught,t whose 
violence and outrage provoked a civil war in that province, which 
caused the death of thousands, and the confiscation of Ihe estates of 
some of its first families. 

The case of Richard Bourke, a distinguished Irishman, of great 
wealth and influence, demands particular attention. He had repaired 
to the camp of the deputy as a matter of courtesy and politeness, was 

* " In the northern province, which had but just now professed to accept the 
EngUsh polity, the execution of the laws was rendered detestable and intolerable by 
the queen's officers. Sheriffs purchased their places ; acted, as in Connaught, 
■with insolence mid oppression; spoiled the old «j/ia6/<aM<s, and obliged them to 
recur to their native chieftains for protection." — Leland, II. 371. 

" A creature of the lord-deputy who had ventured to exercise the office of sheriff 
in Fermanagh, proceeded in the usual way of spoiling and oppressing the -wretched 
inhabitants, -with his rapacious train of folloivers!^ — Leland, II. 400. 

*' The Earl of Ormond's officers made a complaint against Lovell, sheriff of the 
county of Kilkenny, that he Ijad executed martial law on several felons that had 
lands and goods, which would be forfeited to the earl by their attainders, and that 
the sheriff took those lands and goods to his oiv7i use." — Cox, 395. 

" The people generally seemed to be well pleased and satisfied, but in nothing 
more, than with the corrections of the sheriffes' corruptions, and limiting them to a 
small number of followers, who had formerly used with multitudes to travaile and 
cesse, under colour of seraice, to the grievous oppression of the country." — Peh- 
rot's Government of Ireland, 15. 

■\ " Perrot expressed a violent- disapprobation of Bingham's conduct; he recounted 
various instances in which the old inhabitants had been provoked, and forced into 
insurrections, by injustice, rigour, and uppressioJi. Bingham, on the other hand, 
urged the necessity of a strict and severe government in a disordered state, the 
restlessness and insincerity of the old natives, and the danger to be apprehended 
ivom th« governor's prp«ent indulgence." — JjULiNrt, II. 369. 



36 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

unceremoniously seized, tried by martial law, hanged as a felon, and 
his property, in the usual way, shared among his murderers.* 

This circumstance sheds further light on the deplorable situation of 
the estated Irishmen ; and, independent of the variety of facts hereto- 
fore slated, would establish the correctness of the picture 1 have drawn 
of the tyranny of the government, and the extreme oppression of the 
people. This nobleman came to the camp of the British, probably 
under a safe conduct. He was seized ; and, because " information 
was there given that he was confederate with the rebel," and, " under 
colour of his visitation to the governor, intended to betray him and his 
company ! ! !" he was tried by a court martial, and hung like a high- 
wayman or a sheep-stealer ! ! ! ! 

" Quis talia fando 

" Myrmidonum, Dolopumve, aut duri miles Ulyssei 

" Teniperet a lacrj'misl" 

Who, without indignation and horror at the perpetrators, and deep 
sympathy for the sufferers, can reflect on such horrible, such atrocious 
scenes ! 



Such " information'^ of " intention''' to turn traitor, might be easily 
had against every estated man in the world. A dollar for each would 
procure it dressed up in the most plausible form, and sworn to with 
the utmost possible solemnity. The recurrence to martial law in the 
case of Bourke, is sufficient to satisfy every man of reflexion, that the 
accusation must have been totally groundless. Had there been any 
adequate proof of guilt, the depredators, who, under the cloak of law, 
murdered the unfortunate man, would have trusted the case to a trial 
by jury, which, however, under the control of such a government, would 
have been but a slender protection. 

It must be acknowledged that some of the Irish governors suffered 
condign punishment for their crimes, having paid the forfeit of their 
lives, by the hands of the executioner. Tiptoftf under Edward IV., 
Leonard Gray, and probably some others, underwent this fate. But 
the example was lost upon their successors. 

The grand resource of the English government in Ireland has been 
to foment discord among the natives. This has been steadily pursued 
in every period of tjie Irish history, with a fatal success. This system 
is a proof of extreme profligacy and wickedness on the one hand, and 
of imbecility on the other. One-third of those who have fallen in war- 
fare in Ireland from the invasion to the close of the seventeenth century, 
probably millions of souls, were sent to the other world by this exe- 
crable Machiavelian policy. It produced, in addition to the loss of 
life, masses of misery beyond the powers of.calculation.:}: 

* " Richard Bourke, called the Vs^ile of Ireland, was at Castellne Kelly, hanged 
l)y marshail law. In formation being there giuen, that hee -was confederate with 
the rehell, and vnder pretext of dutiful obedience and visitation of the governour, in- 
tended to betray him and his company." — Pf.hhot, 95. 

•j" " Tiptoft, recalled to England and condemned of partiality and injustice, paid 
for his misconduct the forfeit of his life by a public cvecntion." — Crawford, I. 237. 

i The deputy replied, " That he thought it expedient to suffer one knave to des- 
troy another, to save expense to the king, and to purchase the peace of the land." — 
Crawford, I. 169. 

"The lord justice did, (underhand,) encourage the Irish to do all prejudice they 
could to Fitz-Girald and his partizans; hence arose mutual complaints and reciprocal 
impeachments," — Cox, 78. 



CHAPTER II. 37 

That this is not an exaggerated picture of the desolation caused by 
this policy, is strongly corroborated by a declaration extracted from a 
letter of Sir Henry Sydney to Queen Elizabeth, that Munster and Con- 
naught were so far depopulated, by the sanguinary wars about the close 
of tlae sixteenth century, that there was not one-trventieth part of the 
people left alive.* 

We find this policy pursued in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 
turies, and it is not improbable that the connivance at the horrible ex- 
cesses of the Orangemen of late years, particularly in Ihe county of 
Armagh, was a branch of the system. 

Lord Orrery, in a letter to the Duke of Ormonde, writes — 

"Dec. 14, 1666. I humbly offer to your grace's consideration, whether this may 
not be a fit season to make that schism you are sowing amongst the popish clergy 
publicly to break out, so as to set them at such open difference, as we may reap 
some practical advaiitage thereby ! T^ — Ohkeby, II. 101. 

The union of parties created by the swindling patent for a copper 
coinage, bestowed on the schemer. Wood, in the year 1723, which 
gave occasion to the splendid display of Dean Swift's talents and pa- 
triotism, in the " Drapier's Letters," was regarded as a most serious 
evil, and called forth this lamentation from primate Boulter, the prime 
minister of Ireland : — 

" The people of every religion, country, and party here, are alike set against 
Wood's half-pence : and their agreement in this has had a very unhapjpy influence 
on the state of the nation, by bringing on intimacies between Papists and Jaco- 
bites, and the ivhigs, ivho before had no correspondence -with them ! .' /" — Boul- 
ter, 7. 

This policy was avowed by the ministers of Queen Elizabeth, who, 
according to Leland, " appear to have conceived an odious jealousy, 
which reconciled them to the distractions and mi.series of Ireland. 
Should we exert ourselves, said they, in reducing this country to order 
and civility, it must soon acquire power, consequence, and riches. 
The inhabitants will be thus alienated from England : they will cast 
themselves into the arms of some foreign power, or perhaps erect 
themselves into an independent and separate state. Let us rather con- 
nive at their disorders! for a weak and disordered people, never can 
attempt to detach themselves from the crown of England ! !" — Leland, 
II. 355. 

Lord Bacon reprobated the vile policy pursued towards Ireland; 
and, (in a letter to one of the ministers of Queen Elizabeth,) pointed 
out the course which ought to have been adopted : 

" I am perswaded if a penny in the pound which hath been spent i7i poena, a chas- 
tisement of rebels, without other fruit or emolument of this state, had been spent in 
prxmio, that is, rewarding, things had never grown to this extremity." — Cabala, 50. 

• " If that cowardlie policy be still allowed of, to kepe them in contymiall dissention 
for feare leste, thoroughe their quiet, might follow I wot not what, then myne ad- 
vice unto your majestic bothe is, and shalbe, to withdrawe me, and all charge here. 
In myne opinion, as little dishonM^bl^ were it, totallie to abandon it, as wonte obe- 
dience to some to govern it. Ana so far hath that poUicie, (or rather lacke of pol- 
licie,) in keping dissention emonges them prevailed, as nowe, albeit, all that are 
alive, woulde becom honest, and live in quiet, yet are there not lefte alive in thoise 
tivo provincies, the XXth person 7ieeessarie to inhabite the same ! ! .'" — SynifET, 
1.39, 



38 VINDICLE HIBERNIC.E. 

Whenever the Irish subjects, harassed by the oppression and tyranny 
of their governors, appealed for redress to the throne, they were gene- 
rally treated with contumely, their applications rejected — and not un- 
frequently their agents thrown into prison, and afterwards sent home, 
subject to the discretion and mercy of those against whose injustice 
they had entered their complaints, who, in order to punish them for 
their presumption in seeking redress, and to hold them out in terrorem 
to others, to induce a quiet submission to their injustice, fined and im- 
prisoned them. 

To illustrate this feature of the government of Ireland, I shall give a 
case which occurred under Henry Sydney, who ruled the country, as 
deputy at several periods, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 

The uniform custom in providing for the support of the army, by 
what was termed cess, previous to this deputy's administration, was to 
fix the rate by act of parliament; and when any material alteration of 
the prices of the necessaries of life, rendered a change in the contribu- 
tion necessary, it was always made by the same authority. Sydney 
resolved on an increase of the cess, but would not condescend to ac- 
complish his purpose by the fair and regular means. He ordained the 
increase on his own mere motion, without any consultation with par- 
liament. The lords of the pale, aggrieved by the oppression of the 
new rates, and indignant at the violation of their privileges, remon- 
strated on the procedure with the deputy. It was in vain. He was 
inexorable. They then despatched agents to the court of London, to 
seek redress. But the paramount influence of the deputy defeated 
their application. Redress was not only arrogantly denied, but the 
• agents were confined in the Fleet prison for months,* for no other 
crime but laying their grievances and those of their constituents at 
the foot of the throne. 

But this scandalous abuse of power did not satisfy their oppressors. 
The most elevated of their constituents, and others of the gentry of the 
pale, who favoured the cause, were arrested, t imprisoned in the castle 
of Dublin, heavily fined, and after a tedious confinement, | forced to 
apologize and beg pardon for what was styled their offence ! 

• " When hir hignesse had read and thoroughlie considered their opinions and 
resolutions, and finding her selfe undutifullie to be handled by her subiects, com- 
manded by the advise of her councill the said agents which followed their sute to be 
committed to the Fleet." — Hooker, in Hollinshed, VI. 392. 

•j- "And nowe [June 1577] having received at your honnors handes, (to your 
owne just prayses,) the dewe rewarde of their deserts, we thought it expedient, 
beinge led by so good and grave a president, accordinge to hir majesties direction, 
(whereunto your honourable lettere referred vs,) to sende not oneley for those lords 
and gentlemen that subscribed the letters sent unto hir majestie and you, but also in 
discreacion for some others, whose disguised and cunninge manner of dealinge, we 
had heard of before by report, beinge men speciallye noted unto us, to be chiefs 
counsellors, ringleaders, and procurers of the late embassage sent to your lordships. 
And when all theisc, (thus beinge sent for by oure letters,) came before us, havinge 
first occasion to deal withe theim, touchinge their claime of frcdome from cesse; 
found generallye in theim all, by the manner pf ||>eyer answers to oure demandes, 
an arrogant and wilfull kinde of repininge at hii majesties prerogatyve for cesse, af- 
firminge boldly, in playne speache, without any stickinge, that no cesse could be 
imposed but by parliament, or graund councell, and whatsoever was otherwise set 
downe by us, was against law." — Stdnet, I. 196. 

^ " June. 1577. In the entervall hetwixt the committment of thei«e wilfull gal- 



CHAPTER II. 39 

This is a plain, simple case, not liable to mistake or misapprehen- 
sion. A governor by his " sic volo, sic jubeo," imposes taxes against 
custom and wsage for time immemorial. The nobility and gentry 
peaceably remonstrate, and appeal to the fountain head for redress — a 
right inherent and indefeasible. Redress is not only refused, but the 
endeavour to procure it is punished as if it were highly criminal. 

Another case under this deputy, which evinces the atrocious use of 
tke despotic power of the deputies and the abject state of the gentry, 
requires to be stated. He gave orders to Baron Dunboyn and Piers 
Butler, his brother, to surrender some of their dependants, which they 
did not, perhaps could not do. For this offence he imposed " heavy 
Jines'''' upon them, and committed them and their wivps ! to prison, 
without trial, on his own mere motion ! ! ! !* 

launts, and the writinge of theise our lettres to your lordships, by the proceadinge 
and dealinge, that somme of us had with theim, we had good cawse to note, that 
they were bent in the ende to a certaine kynde of more arrogant wilfulness, and 
stubborne stoutnes, than they were before, refuzinge to yeelde to any acknowledg- 
ment of their offence, or to do as they ought, (and we looked for,) by way of sub- 
mission, confesse their error, in impugniuge her majesties prerogative." — Idem, 197. 

Walsingham writes to Sydney, August 9, 1577, that "Scurlocke, Nettervill, and 
Burnel, since their submission made here, by reason of the sickenes of the plague, 
which is in the Fleete, where they were prisoners, are enlarged vppon good bands 
to remayne ether in the citye, or within ten miles thereof, untill further order be 
taken with them ; and that it is meante, they shall not come into Irelande to make 
their submission in like manner there, untill my lords here may first heare somewhat 
more herof from your lordship." — Idem, 202, 3. 

" I sent for Barnabie Scurlocke, and laied before hym your majesties grave sen- 
sure vpon hym and his companions, and declared that your majestic had nowe, upon 
the disclosinge of the matter before you by your highnes chauncellor and their 
vntrothes, disguysings, and slaunderous reportes, by good matter and dewe proffe by 
hym overthrowen, converted your princely compassion into a trewe judgement, and 
therefore had sett doxvne order for his punishmejit." February 13th, 1578. — Idem, 
235. 

" He was answered at full to all that he could say, and sharply reprehended for 
his fault, follye and presumpsion, and so in fyne committed to the castell of Dublin. 
—Ibid. 

Feb. 13, 1588. " When I sawe they were so untractable, that neither faire meanes 
nor perswasions, nor sharpe speache, nor threats, could wynne theim to do that be- 
camme theim : And that Missett, Flemminge, and Barnaby Scurlock, one of their 
principall agents, had subscribed the submission, (the doubble whereof I hearewith 
send to your majestic,) I by the advise of your majesties counsell here, thought good 
to commit theim till your majestyies pleasure xvere further knoxven ; and within a 
day, or day after, called theim before us agayne, and for examples sake, and the 
greater terror to others hereafter, imposed fynes upon eche of theim." — Sydney, I. 
337. 

April, 1 578. " The onelye pointe of those twoe letters, conteine an advise and 
direccion from your Lordships, howe to precede, as well with the agentes of the pale 
now sent thence, (who arry ved not here before the xxviith of this present,) as with 
those noblemeti and gentlemen that remayne prisoners here for that cawse." — 
Idem, 253. 

* " I soughte to have com by the actuall malefactors, supported and mayneteyned 
by the forenamed gentlemen ; but I coulde in effecte com by none, so obstinate and 
disobediente I found the heddes of them. Whereupon I assessed heavy fynes uppon 
the Baron of Dunboyn, and Piers Butler, his brother, for the contempte. And com- 
mitted them both to warde, and their ivifes, with a bastarde sonne of Dunboynes. 
All which I presentlie doe detayne in the castell of Dublyn, and will doe untill they 
shall procure the bringinge of suche their lewde followers, destroyers of that coun- 
trie, unlesseyour majestic commande me to the contrarie; which if you doe at anny 
mannes sewte, actum est de hac republica." — Idem, 21. 



40 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^. 

I close this account of the administration of the government of 
Ireland with extracts from an aftecting address, drawn up by an eye- 
witness. Captain Thomas JiCe, and presented to Queen Elizabeth, 
anno 1594. The original MS. is lodged in the Library of Trinity 
College, Dublin.* 

"TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY: 

" Understanding;, most gracious sovereign, the proud and insolent terms the lords 
of the north of Ireland do now stand upon, it maketh me bold to set down «iy 
knowledge of those parts to your majesty, because I have debated often with the 
chiefs of them, what was fit they should yield unto your majesty ; and that it was 
unmeet for them in any sort to condition with your highness ; in the end, (after 
long debating,) they seemed somewhat to like and allow of that which I demande^J, 
as hereafter shall appear. And because your majesty may the better judge the 
causes of their discontentments, I have here set down the iiiiconscionahte courses, 
■which have been held towards them, which being i-emedicd, and that they may see 
your majesty doth no way allow of the same, there is no doubt, (notwithstanding 
all their proud shows of disloyalty,) but that they may be brought to dutiful obe- 
dience, and to yield you that profit, which neither your majesty now hath, nor any 
of your progenitors ever had ; so as they may likewise have that, which they de- 
mand, being nothing unfit for your majesty to grant. In which discourse, if any 
thing should seem unpleasing to your majesty, I humbly beseech you to pass it over 
to peruse the rest, wheicof I doubt not, but something will content your highness, 
for that it tendeth to your highness's service and commodit)'. 

" My meaning, whereby your highness's profit may arise, is by O'Donnel Ma- 
guire, Bryan Oge O'Rourke, and Bryan Oge M'Mahon. 

" The demands I made for your majesty were these, that they should receive your 
majesty's forces into their countries, and your laws to go current, as they did in 
other places, and some part of their countries to be reserved for your majesty to 
dispose unto them, who should govern them ; and they to charge themselves with 
that proportion, that was fit for them to bear. 

" To those demands they all yielded ; so that they might have such gentlemen 
chosen, as they knew would use no treachery, nor hard measures towards them, but 
to live upon that which your majesty would allow, and that which they would give 
of their free consents, and be no further charged, and they woXild be as dutiful as 
any other country in Ireland now is. And how this may be performed, I have made 
bold, with your majesty's favourable liking, hei;e to set down upon my knowledge, 
both how your majesty's forces may be received with their consent, and they to 
yield great profit in discharge of that, which your majesty allows to the soldiers, 
and the soldiers to be well satisfied. 

" The cause they have to stand upon those terms, and to seek for better assurance 
is, the harsh practices used against others by those who have been placed in autho- 
rity to protect men for your majesty's service, wliich they have greatly abused and 
used in this sort. 

" They have drawn unto them by protection three or four hundred of these 
country people, under colour to do your majesty service, and brought them to a place 
of meeting, where your garrison soldiers -were appointed to be, -who liave there 
most dishonoitrably put them all to the sword .' ! ! and this hath been by the co7i- 
sent and practice of tlie lord depiitij for the time being!!! If this be a good 
course to draw these savage people to the state to do your majesty service, and not 
rather to enforce them to stand upon their guard, I humbly leave to your majesty. 

" When some one who hath been a bad member, (pardoned by your majesty,) 
hath heard himself exclaimed upon to be a notable thief after his pardon, and hath 
simply come in without any bonds, or any other enforcement, to an open session to 
take his trial, by your majesty's laws, if any could accuse him, notwithstanding his 
coming in after this manner, and without any trial at the lime, (because he was a 
bad man in times past,) there hath been order given i/i that session for the execu- 
tion of him, and so he has lost his life, to the great dishonour of your majesty, and 
discredit of your laws." 

— .►8ee«* — 
* For the whole address, see Plowden, 1. App. p. 2G, 



CHAPTER ir. 41 

*' There have also been divers others pariloned by your majesty, who have been 
held very dangerous men, and after their pardon have lived very dutifully, and done 
your majesty great service, and many of them have lost their lives therein ; yet 
upon small suggestions to the lord deputy, that they should be spoilers of your 
majesty's subjects, notwithstanding their pardon, there have been bonds demanded 
of them for their appearance at the next sessions. They knowing themselves 
guiltless, have most willingly entered into bonds, and appeared, and there, (no mat- 
ter being found to charge them,) they have been arraigned only for being in com- 
pany with some of your majesty's servitors, at the killing of notorious known trait- 
ors, andyor that only have been condemned of treason, and lost their lives .' ! And 
this dishonest practice hath been by the consent of your deputies I 

" When there have been notable traitors in arms against your majesty, and sums 
of money ofTered for their heads, yet could by no means be compassed, they have 
in the end, (of their own accord,) made means for their pardon, ollering to do great 
service, which they have accordingly performed, to the contentment of the state, 
and thereupon received pardon, and have put in sureties for their good behaviour, 
and to be answerable at all times, at assizes and sessions, when they should be called ; 
yet notwithstanding there have been secret commissions given for the murderinff 
of these men ! ! ! They have often been set upon by the sheriff of shires to whom 
the commissions were directed, in sundry of which assaults, some of them have been 
killed, and others have hardly escaped. And after all this they have simply come, 
without pardon or protection, to an open place of justice, to submit themselves to 
your majesty's laws, where they have been put to their trial upon several indictments, 
of all which they have been acquitted and set at liberty. If this be a course allow- 
able for poor men to be handled in this manner, and to be at no time in safety of 
their lives, I humbly leave to your majesty. 

" When many notorious offenders have submitted themselves to your majesty's 
mercy, and have been accepted, and had their pardons, and have put in good assu- 
rances to be at all times answerable to your laws, the chiefest rebel, (whose follow- 
ers they were,) has been countenanced and borne out by your state, to rob and 
spoil, burn aiid kill these poor men, xvho did thus submit themselves. When they 
have very pitifully complained against that arch rebel, and his complices, of these 
outrages, they have been sharply rebuked and reproved for their speeches, and left 
void of all remedy for their losses: so as when in the end they have made petition to 
have licence by their own means, and help of their friends, to recover their goods 
from the rebels, they have been rejected and utterly discomforted, yet nevertheless 
remained dutiful subjects, although they see that such as co7itimie iiotorious male- 
factors, are in far more safety than they, who depend upo?i your majesty^s de- 
fence ! .' ! 

" For it is well to be proved, that in one of your majesty's civil shires, there lived 
an Irishman, peaceably and quietly, as a good subject, many years together, whereby 
he grew into great wealth, which his landlord thirsting after, and desirous to remove 
him from his land, entered into practice with the sheritf of the shire, to dispatch this 
simple man, and divide his goods between them. They sent one of his own servants 
for him, and he coming with his servant, they presently took his man, who was«lheir 
messenger, and hanged him, and keeping the master prisoner, went immediately to 
his dwelling, and shared his substance, (which was of great value,) between them, 
turning his wife and many children to begging ; after they had kept him fast for a 
season with the sheriff", they carried him to the castle of Dublin, where he lay by the 
space of two or three terms, and having no matter whatever objected against him, 
whereupon to be tried by law, they by their credit and countenance, being both 
English gentlemen, and he who was the landlord, the chiefest man in the shire, in- 
formed the lord deputy so hardly of him, as that without indictment or trial they 
executed him ! ! ! to the great scandal of your majesty's state tliere, and impeach- 
ment of your laws. For if this man had been such an offender as they urged, why 
was he not tried by ordinai-y course of lawl whereby good example of justice might 
have been showed, and your highness benefited by his wealth which they shared ? 
But to cut him off by martial law, who was a good householder, inhabiting a civil 
country always liable to law, and last imprisoned in Dublin, (where all the laws of 
that land have their head,) was in my conceit rather rigour than justice. 

" When there have been means made to an aged gentleman, (never traitor against 
your majesty, neither he nor any of his ancestors, and dwelling in one of the re- 

6 



42 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

motest parts of your kingdom,) to come into your state, and that the hard coarse* 
used to others, made him demand security for his coming in, which hath been sent 
unto him by great oaths and protestations deUvercd by the messenger, whereof he 
hatli accepted, and thereupon come in ; yet, notwithstanding all these promised safe- 
ties, this aged gentleman hath been detained prisoner for six years, and so yet re- 
maineth. And his imprisonment is the only colour to satisfy your majesty for a 
wonderful great charge, which your majesty and your subjects were then put unto; 
but his detaining, contrary to promise, hath bred great fear in all or 7nost of his 
sort, (in those parts,) of crediting ivhat your state there shall promise. 

" When upon the death of a great lord of a country, there hath been another 
nominated, chosen, and created, he hath been entertained with fair speeches, taken 
down into his country, and for the offences of other men, indictments have been 
framed against him, ivherevpon he hath been found guilty, and so lost his life ; 
which hath bred such terror in other great lords of the like measure, as maketh therh 
stand upon those terms which they now do. 

" A great part of that unquietness of O'Donnel's country, came by Sir William 
Fitz Williams his placing of one Willis there to be sheriff, who had with him three 
/i^indred of the very rascals and scum of that kingdom, tvhich did rob a7id spoil 
that people, ravish their ivives and daughters, and made havoc of all, which bred 
such a discontentment, as that the whole country was up in arms against them, so 
as if the Earl of Tyrone had not rescued and delivered him and them out of the 
country, they had been all put to the sword. 

" They have seen pardons serve, (in their conceit,) rather for traps to catch others 
in, than for true and just remission and acceptance into the free benefit of subjects, 
which maketh him [Tyrone] fear the like practice towards himself. 

" There is one prisoner in the castle of Dublin, an aged and impotent gentleman, 
of whom, (if it be your highness's good pleasure,) I desire your majesty shall take 
notice : his name is Sir Owen Mac Toole : one who was never a traitor against your 
majesty, nor ever in any traitorous action : but so good a subject and so faithful a 
servitor as, (for his deserts,) he had a pension from your majesty, whereof Sir John 
Perrot bereft him. This gentleman ^vas se7it for by promise and assurance from 
the state, that he should not be abridged of his liberty ; contrary whereunto he was 
committed unto prison, where he hath remained these eight years, for whose en- 
largement all bail hath been refused, yet is the gentleman of so great years, as he is 
not able to go, and scarcely able to ride." 

This is a most important document, as written by an English officer 
on the spot, zealous for the honour of his queen, and for the prosperity 
of his native country, and therefore beyond suspicion or cavil. The 
atrocious scenes he describes, particularly that of convening three or 
four hundred Irish under pretence of doing " her majesty service," and 
then butchering them in cold blood, (which last has few parallels in 
history,) makes the blood run cold with horror. 



CHAPTER Iir. 43 



CHAPTER III. 

Definition of terms. IT'/iolesale confiscation. Acts of attainder. 
Cases of the Earls of Desmond; of Shane 0''Neil; of Baron Nu- 
gent, ^C, ^'C. 

" Ever since the English first appeared upon our coasts, they entered our territo- 
ries under a certain specious pretence of charity, and external hypocritical show of 
religion, endeavouring at the same time, by every artifice malice could suggest, to 
extirpate t/s root and branch; and, without any other right than that of the 
strongest, they have so far succeeded by base fraudulence and cunning, that they 
have forced Its to quit our fair and ample habitations and inheritances, and to 
take refuge, like wild beasts, in t/ie mountains,' the ivoods, and the morasses of the 
country ; nor even can the caverns and dens protect us against their avarice. They 
pursue us even into these frightful abodes; endeavouring to dispossess us of the 
wild uncultivated rocks, and arrogate to themselves the property of every place on 
which we can stamp the figure of our feet." — JMemorial of the IrisJi to Pope John 
XXII. in the reign of Edward II. 

To prevent confusion of terms, and to place the subject clearly be- 
fore the reader, I shall throughout this chapter style the three different 
descriptions of the inhabitants of Ireland, as Irish — English — and 
Anglo-Hibernians. The first class embraces the descendants of Hebei, 
Heremon, and Milesius — the second, the English by birth, in whom 
was generally vested the administration of the affairs of Ireland — 
and the third, the descendants of the English, whether of the original 
invaders, or of those who subsequently migrated from England to the 
western isle. 

The preceding chapter details the cruel and destructive system of 
legislation adopted by the Anglo-Hibernians, to operate on the Irish, 
whom they regarded in nearly the same light as the Helots were 
viewed by the Spartans. In this system the clearest dictates of ho- 
nour, justice, and humanity, were disregarded. The Irish, it has been 
proved, were held as perpetual enemies, devested of the rights of 
human nature. This course was directly opposite to the liberal and 
honourable maxim of the present day — enemies in war, in peace 
friends. But to the unfortunate Irish, there was scarcely any peace. 
It was an almost unvarying scene of predatory warfare and desolation. 

Injustice frequently — it is to be regretted that it does not always — 
recoils on its perpetrators with double force. The injustice and impo- 
licy of the invaders of Ireland and their immediate descendants, who 
framed the barbarous system of proscription against the Irish, was 
visited on their posterity to the tenth and twelfth generations. For 
centuries, between the invasion and the close of the reign of Eliza- 
belli, there was as strong and as marked a line of distinction drawn 
between the English and the Anglo-Hibernians, as between the latter 
and the descendants of Heber, Heremon, and Milesius. The English 
regarded the Anglo-Hibernians with as much jealousy, and as strong 
a disposition to violate towards them the rights of person and pro- 



44 VINDin.E HIBEKMC.i:. 

perty, as Uic latter displayed towards the Irish. '^ And the rapine and 
depredation perpetrated on tlie Irish by tlie Anglo-IIibcrnians under 
the sanction of law, was retaliated on the latter by the English. From 
this view of the subject, it appears that there were two diOVrent spe- 
cies of oppression and i^iisgovernnient, existing in Ireland — one, on 
the pari of the English, operating on the Anglo-lliliernians, and the 
Irish; and the other, of the Anglo-Hibernians operating on the Irish 
—the latter, therefore, groaning under a double yoke — the Anglo-Hi- 
bernians under a single one. 

The most usual means of accomplishing the nefarious purpose of 
conliscating estates in Ireland, were — ^ 

1. By implicating the nobility and gentry in some fictitious plot — 
and citing them to appear before the deputies — if they appeared, seiz- 
ing them, and trying them by martial law — or by a jury packed for the 
purpose, or acting under the dread of corporal or other punishment, if 
their verdict did not quadrate with the views of the government. 

In trials, in which the government was concerned, if the verdict did 
not please the deputies or presidents, it was by no means uncommon 
to fine and imprison the jurors, under a pretence, easily framed and 
difTicult to be refuted, that they had given verdicts against the evidence. 
By these means, the advantages of jury trial, in crown cases, were al- 
most wholly destroyed. 

2. If they did not aj)pear, as was often the case, in consequence of 
the j)erlidy so frequently experienced by those who ventured to com- 
ply with tlie requisition,! regarding their non-appearance as a confes- 
sion of guilt, declaring them traitors, and overrunning and seizing their 
territories. 

Kecourse in both cases, was generally had to acts of attainder for 
the confiscation of the estates of the parties. 

An act of attainder is a tremendous instrument of persecution and 
destruction. There are few conceivable cases, in which it can be used, 
■without egregious injustice and oppression. As it is enacted by the 
highest authority in the state, there lies no appeal against its over- 
whelming operation, however atiociously wicked. The instances of 
its use in England are not very numerous, and rarely occurred, except 
in limes of extreme turbulence and violence, when the voice of reason 
and justice was drowned in the clamour of faction, cruelty, prejudice, 
and persecution. Moreover, acts of attainder were passed there only 
by parliaments correctly convened, according to the usual constitu- 
tional forms ; whereas, in Ireland, when confiscation was the abject in 
viev>', the most base, corrupt, and tyrannical measures were adopted 
to secure such a parliament as would meet the views of the govern- 
ment, howevei unjust, with the most obsequious complaisance. 

What a frightful view opens on the mind at the reflection of a packed 
parliament, collected together in a corrupt and profligate manner,:|: 
consigning to death with a stroke of the pen, eighty or a hundred per- 
sons, without opportunity, of defence — and a large portion of the mem' 

• "The late emigrants from England triumphed over the old race, as if they had 
all forfeited their privileges, and were consolidated with those Irish vyho had been 
reduced by their arms." — Lelajju, I. 354. 

■f See case of Bourke, supra, p. 35. 

t See Chapter YI. devoted exclusively to this subject. 



(CHAPTER III. 45 

bers of this very parliament, sure to divide among them the spoils of 
the victims they immolated, and devoting to ruin and poverty their un- 
oftending heirs ! 

Lord Strafford, guilty of a complicated series of injustice, tyranny, 
and oppression, in the administration of the government of Ireland — 
of which in some cases a single act would outweigh the guilt of a 
score of persons who have expiated their crimes in penitentiaries,* was 
attainted after a regular accusation preferred in due form by a commit- 
tee of the House of Commons. He had a patient hearing by his 
peers, and made an elaborate and affecting defence, in which he forc- 
ibly appealed to the hearts of his auditors, and availed himself of all 
the resources of a powerful mind. However intrinsically just the 
sentence — however clearly established^the oppression — the depredation 
on private property — the iniquitous sentences in the Star Chamber — 
the ruinous fines imposed, not merely for trivial offences, but for the 
honest and conscientious discharge of duty — in a word, the various 
malversations of which he was guilty — yeX as there was great infor- 
mality in the proceedings, which were destitute of the sanction of ap- 
proved precedents, his condemnation and execution have been subjects 
of regret and censure with the great majority of the historians who 
have touched on the eventful period of the civil wars in England dur- 
ing the seventeenth century. There is scarcely a saint in the martyr-"- 
ology, whose fate has been more deplored by the most devoted votary 
of the religion for the profession of which he was immolated, than 
Strafford's has been by all the historians who have arrayed themselves 
under the banners of the monarchic or aristocratic principles. And 
there are even some of the whig writers who appear disposed to re- 
gard his death as a stain on the escutcheon of those, who, in 1640 and 
1641, contended against inveterate regal usurpations — many of which 
had been submitted to without a murmur for centuries — and the enor- 
mity of which had been only recently placed in the full glare of day 
by the increased light which the press had shed on royal duties and 
popular rights. 

But these same writers pass over with the most frigid indifference 
the horrible attainders which imprint an inextinguishable stain on the 
legislation of Ireland,- — and involved in destruction so many of the 
Irish and the Anglo-Hibernians, without a trial, without a hearing, 
without a defence, in three-fourths of the cases without a crime, and 
against all established precedents. There is not a sigh, not a lamen- 
tation, not a regret over the cruel fate of the sufferers — not a syllable 
of reproach against their oppressors — I might without injustice say, 
their murderers! for many of these victims were as completely mur- 

• This is by no means hyperbolical, but is strictly true. Compare the petty thefts 
and robberies of one hundred tenants of any of our jails with the depredations perpe- 
trated in Connaught, particularly in Galway, where Strafford seized one-half of all 
the patrimonial estates in the county — and one-third in the otlier counties — with the 
fine of four thousand pounds on the sheriff, and one thousand pounds on each of the 
jurors, because the verdict was in favour of justice ; — with bribing the justices by one- 
half of the depredations perpetrated under their sanctisn — with his stationing a body 
of troops near the place of the session of the jurors, to overawe and force them to 
give verdicts for the crown — in one word, with his whole career of depredation and 
rapine — and the petty thieves must " hide their diminished heads," as wholly out- 
done by this wholesale depredator. 



46 VINDICLE IIIBERNICiE. 

tiered as any of those who fell during the reign of terror under Dan ton 
or Robespierre. Were these historians narrating the slaughter of so 
many tigers, or leopards, or lynxes, they could not perform the duty 
with more stoical apathy. 

Yet there were more persons attainted by a single Irish statute of 
six pages, than are to be found in the British statutes for centu- 
ries. There is now before me an act for the attainder of John 
Brown and others, which contains no less than one hundred and two 
names, including almost every person of considerable estate in the 
quarter of the country where Brown resided, whereby several hundred 
thousand acres of land were forfeited. This act does not appear to 
have attracted the attention of a single writer of Irish history. 

This long enumeration is foll(t,wed by a swieeping clause, which ex- 
tends the attainder to " all others which by actual rebellion and other 
traitorous actions and practices have traitorously joined or combined 
themselves with the aforesaid oflenders, or any of them, in their said 
lebellions or treasons, or have aided or assisted them in any of their 
said rebellions or treasons, and have died or been slain in the same 
their actual rebellion or treasons, or have been by martial law executed 
for the same." \_Statules, 307.] Now it is perfectly obvious that this 
opened a wide vortex to swallow up estates to an almost unlimited ex- 
•tent. The estate of every man who died during one of those rebellions, 
or who might be accused by any perjurer of having been in rebellion, 
was liable to be forfeited to the crown under this sweeping clause — as 
the only evidence necessary would be a deposition, and depositions, we 
well know, could be readily procured. 

Acts of attainder were more frequent and sweeping against the 
Anglo-Hibernians, than against the Irish. This arose, from their su- 
perior wealth. Had the deluded Anglo-Hibernians acted towards the 
Irish on principles of justice or equity — had they imparted to them the 
benefit of English laws, the two races would have coalesced together, 
and formed a solid phalanx which would have bid defiance to the ma- 
chinations of the swarms of locusts and vampires, who came over in 
the train of the deputies and presidents, and whose object, according 
to the affecting appeal to Fope John XXII. was '■'■ to repair their shat- 
tered fortunes.'''' 

The extent of these depredations, and the temptations they held out 
to avarice and rapine, may be conceived from the fact, that of the es- 
tates of the great Earl of Desmond, who possessed the largest landed 
property of any nobleman in the English dominions, those who drove 
him to desperation, and finally hunted him to death, (after having in- 
volved the country in all the horrors of a civil war — laid waste a large 
portion of the fairest province of Ireland — and destroyed thousands of 
the unoffending inhabitants,) divided among them and their friends, no 
less than 259,000 acres ! ! ! 

On a calm view of the state of society during the time embraced in 
this portion of Irish history, it will not appear extraordinary, that such 
awful scenes of rapine took place, in so deranged a situation of affairs 
— when those restraints on crime which wise laws aff"ord, were almost 
wholly unknown — when the force of corrupt example and the impu- 
nity experienced in the perpetration of this species of crime, tended to 
destroy all moral restraint — and when the temptations to peculation 
and oppression were so powerful, and the oppreesed so defenceless. 



■ .^y. 



CHAPTER III. 47 

Indeed, these temptations were too great to be resisted, except by 
persons of the most sterling integrity and disinterestedness. And 
almost every page of history proves that characters of this description 
are plants of rare growth. For one Aristides, or Phocion, or Socrates, 
J^here are a score Claudii, Verreses, and Bacons. And in the whole 
list of Irish deputies and presidents, from the invasion till the death 
of Queen Elizabeth, there were but few who were not more or less 
criminal; some as sanguinary as Domitian — Arthur Grey, and Mount- 
joy, for instance — and others as corrupt as Verres ; for example, UfFort, 
Furnival, and Tiptoft. The three who have been the least criminal, are 
Sydney, Perrot, and Carew. — Yet we have seen that Sydney, in the 
afRiir of the cess, was a rapacious and arrogant despot. — And such was 
the tenor of his conduct throughout his whole career. He it was who 
paid the price of the blood of Shane O'Neil, to Piers, the Spy, who 
suborned the Scotch to murder the unfortunate prince. We shall find 
in the sequel, that Perrot became a kidnapper, and likewise planned 
the stupendous fraud of base coin, by Avhich Elizabeth swindled the 
Irish out of 300,000/. — and that Carew has recorded of himself the 
felonious tricks of forgery and mail robbery. 

Case of James, Earl of Desmond. 

This nobleman administered the government of Ireland as lord 
deputy under Edward IV. with great credit. He was of a high aris- 
tocratical spirit — and, when the king contemplated a marriage with 
lady Elizabeth Grey, endeavoured to dissuade him from it as a degra- 
dation to the regal dignity.* Even after the marriage, he was impru- 
dent enough to speak disparagingly of the queen, and to reflect on the 
king for stooping so far beneath his rank in the choice of a partner.f 
The king betrayed his advice to the queen ; and further, Desmond's 
free conversation respecting her, reached her ears. She first procured 
his dismissal ; and then had Tiptoft, Marquis of Worcester, appointed 
deputy, with instructions to scrutinize the conduct of his predecessor, 
in order to discover materials to sate her vengeance. This was not 
difficult. Contraventions of obsolete statutes were proved against him, 

* " This earl," says Campion, "followed the fortune of Edward IV. during the civil 
wars of the houses of York and Lancaster;" and that author makes the cause of his 
untimely end, " to be owing to his having advised the king not to viarry Sir John 
Grey's ivido-iu, who was killed at the first battle of St. Alban's, which advice the 
king did not take ; the earl, after this, came over to his government of Ireland, where 
he continued to rule with honour; but the king, some time after, having a dispute 
with his queen, let fall those words, ' that if he had taken his cousin Desmo7id's 
advice, her pride ivould have been more humbled,' which she seemed to take no 
notice of for the present; but, upon their reconciliation, she asked the king, what 
advice the Earl of Desmond had given him which concerned her? The king, 
imagining the earl was not in her power to do him any mischief, freely told her ; 
upon which, she first made interest to procure Desmond's removal from the govern- 
ment of Ireland, and had her favourite, the Earl of Worcester, sent over in his 
room ; who, calling a parliament at Drogheda, (a place remote from the earl's estate 
or alliances,) he there attainted him, and had him executed to the no small astonish- 
ment of the whole nobility of Ireland. He adds, that the queen procured a warrant, 
under the privy seal, for his execution." — Smith's Cork, II. 28. 

t Campion, 150. Hollingshed, VI. 269. Spencer, 100. 



48 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 

probably by perjury, to which free recourse was had in those days, to 
accomplish the purposes of a predominant party. Who could with- 
stand the power of the crown in such a distracted country as Ireland 
was at that period? A compliant parliament was convened; a bill of 
attainder was readily passed ; and Desmond paid the forfeit of his life 
and estate for his own imprudence and the queen's displeasure.* 

Case of Thomas, the sixth Earl of Desmond. 

Ralph Ufford, loid justice of Ireland, was corrupt, tyrannical, and 
rapacious. He married "a miserable woman," according to Hollin- 
shed, who incited him to '■'■bribery and extortion,''^ \ whereby i» a 
short time he amassed a large fortune. The immense estates of the 
Earl of Desmond held out strong temptations for the gratification of the 
avarice and rapacity of himself and his wife, and he very soon gained 
possession of them. 

Having convoked a parliament to meet at Dublin, the Earl of Des- 
mond and some other nobles refused to attend,! and convened an as- 

* " Desmond, relying either on his innocence or his power, had the hardiness to re- 
pair to the chief governor to justify his conduct; but to the astonishment and confu- 
sion of his party, was instantly brought to the scaffold, and beheaded." — Lelakd, 
II. 67. 

" The laws, on which he was condemned, had been neither vmiformly obeyed, nor 
strictly executed. If he had exacted coyne and livery, (which, by the way, is 7iot 
at all urged against him in the act of attainder,) the imposition had been fre- 
quently practised without question or control ; and they who in this respect were 
more obnoxious, had not only been unimpeached, but enjoyed a considerable share 
of royal confidence and favour. If he had corresponded with the enemy, the interest 
of his government might have been pleaded for it; and the distresses and necessities 
of the state, superior to all written laws, might have forced him to make such con- 
cessions, as a malicious interpreter of dormant statutes might have easily construed 
into a treaso7iable support and assistance." — Ibid. 

■j- " This man was verie rigorous, and through persuasion, (it is said,) of his 
wife, he was more ecctreame and couetous than otherwise he would haue beene, a 
matter not to be forgotten. For if this ladie had beene as readie to moove hir hus- 
band to have shewed himselfe gentle and mild in his gouvernment as she was bent to 
pricke him for~.vard unto sharpe dealings and rigorous proceedings, she had beene 
now as well reported of, as she is infam^^ by their pens that haue registered the 
dooings of those times." * * * « His ladie, verilie, as should appeare, was but a 
miserable tvomaTi, procuring hiiyi to extortion and briberie." — Hollinshed, VI. 
255-6. 

^ " This UfTort, lord justice, on pain of forfeiture of all his lands, commanded the 
Earl of Desmond to make his personal appearance at a parliament, which he called 
to be holden at Dublin, there to begin the seventh of June; and, because the earl 
refused to come, according to the summons, he raised the king^s standard, and, 
■with an army, marched into JMunster, aiid there seized the earCs possessions into 
the ki7ig\i hands, letting them forth to farm, for an anmial rent, unto other per- 
sons. And, whilst he yet remained in Munster he devised ways how to have the 
Earl of Desmond apprehended ; which being brought to pass, he afterwards delivered 
him upon mainprise of these sureties, whose names ensue: William De Burgh, 
Earl of Ulster; James Hurler, Earl of Ormond ; Richard Tute, Nicholas Verdon, 
Morice Rochford, Eustace Le Powre, Gerald de Rochford, John Fitzrobert Powre, 
Robert Barrie, Maurice Fitzgerald, John Wcllcsly, Walter I.e Fant, Richard Ro- 
kelly, Henry Traherne, Roger Powre, John Lenfant, Roger Powre, Matthew Fitz- 
henrie, Richard Walleis, Edmond Burgh, sonne to the Earl of Ulster, knights ; David 
Barrie, WilHam Fitzgerald, Foulke De Fraxinus, Robert Fitzmauricc, Henry •l''itz- 
berklie, John Fitzgeorgc De Roch, Thomas De Lees De Burgh ; these, (as ye have 



CHAPTER Iir. 49 

sembly of the nobility and gentry, to meet at Callan, in the county of 
Kilkenny, to prepare a remonstrance against a very unjust measure 
adopted by Edward,* namely, the resumption of all the privileges con- 
ferred on, and grants made to, the old English nobility of Ireland. 

Ufford gladly availed himself of this favourable opportunity — and, 
as if Desmond had been gudty of treason, marched an army at once 
into Munster ; seized all that nobleman's estates, letting them out 
at an annual rent ; and executed his principal followers, Sir Eustace le 
Poer, Sir William Graunt, and Sir John Cotterall. — Davies, 153. 

This is a most hideous case, and pourtrays in strong colours the 
piratical and murderous system pursued by the proconsular tyrants who 
for centuries plundered and desolated Ireland. What was the offence 
for which the immense estates of this devoted nobleman were confis- 
cated, and some of his "chief followers" hanged? " Tell it not in 
Gath — publish it not in Askelon." Merely a refusal to attend a par- 
liament, probably a corrupt and packed one, in Dublin, where if he 
had attended, he would, in all likelihood, have been accused of treason 
by perjured witnesses, tried by martial law, and hanged like a sheep- 
stealer, as Richard Bourke had been. See page 36. 

It shows how extremely low are the moral principles of many of the 
English writers on Irish affairs, that Sir John Davies, whose views on 
this subject are generally fair and liberal, says of this wretched plun- 
derer, D'Ufford, that he was "« singular good jitsticerT'' — Davies, 
154. Blackbeard was an honourable man compared with him — for he 
risked his life in his plundering expeditions. He was the foe of all 
men, and all men his foes. Whereas this '■'■ singulur good justicer,''^ 
appointed to watch over the happiness and prosperity of Ireland, pur- 
sued on a grand scale the system which the petty scoundrel Black- 
beard pursued in miniature. The crime of D'Ufford is as far beyond 
that of the pirate, as the robbery of a bank by its president is beyond 
that of the burglar who avails himself of false keys to get into the 
vaults. 

From a view of this whole affair, it appears that but for the testi- 
mony of Hollinshed, which is not liable to objection, this modern Verres 
might be regarded as a second Aristides. 

Having afterwards, by management, procured the arrest of Desmond, 
he obliged him to give, as sureties for his appearance, no less than two 
noblemen and twenty-four of the gentry. The only reason that can 
be assigned for requiring so unusual a number of sureties, is, that he 
entertained a hope that Desmond would make default, and that he 
might, in consequence, be enabled to enforce the penalty on them. If 

heard,) were bound for the earl. And because he made default, the lord justice 
verily took the advantage of the mainpernors, four of them only excepted, the two 
earls and two knights." — Hollinshet), VI. 255. 

* " King Edward having been advised to resume all the privileges and grants, 
which had been made to the old English nobility in Ireland, they refused to meet at 
a parliament, which was summoned to assemble at Dublin, and held a council at 
Kilkenny, where they, with the commons, agreed to present several queries to the 
king, containing the substance of their grievances, and praying redress." — Smith's 
Kerry, 245. 

Among these queries one was — " How an officer under the king, who entered 
very poor, might in one year grd-w to more -^vealth, than men of great patrimony 
and livelihood in many years ?" — Ibid. This obviously refers to the ^^ extortion" 
stated by Hollinshed, 

7 



50 VINDICLE HIBERNIC.E. 

this was the object, it proves that his craft was equal to his rapacity. 
Desmond did not appear at the time appointed. It is difficult to ac- 
count for his cruel abandonment of his friends. Perhaps there was 
some clause artfully inserted in the bond, with which compliance was 
impracticable. The meagre and partial accounts we have of Irish af- 
fairs generally, and particularly of tliose of such ancient date, render it 
impossible to solve the numerous difficulties that constantly arise in 
the perusal of the history of Ireland. 

U fiord rapaciously availed himself of this opportunity to seize the 
estates of the mainpernors, except those of the two noblemen and two 
of the gentry. " The others were utterly ruined thereby." — Cox, 121. 
He likewise retained in his hands, the Desmond estates, which were 
not restored till after his death, when the earl was received into favour. 

Thus, three or four hundred thousand acres of lands were forfeited 
for the crime oi non-attendance in parliament 1 ! 1 No other was even 
insinuated. That they were afterwards restored, was owing solely to 
the accidental circumstance of the king's affairs in France requiring 
his whole attention, and rendering it necessary to conciliate his Irish 
subjects. 

It may be said that the forfeitures accrued to the exchequer, and 
therefore that the lord justice had little personal interest in the affair. 
These matters were ordered differently in Ireland. Not a fifth part of 
the amount of forfeiture ever went into the treasury. 

Not content with the depredation committed on Desmond, and the 
ruin of so large a proportion of his sureties, Ufford seized the Earl of 
Kildare and several other noblemen and gentlemen — committed them 
to prison — annulled a number of charters, and proceeded so tyranni- 
cally, that he was held in such universal abhorrence, that when he 
died, a year or two afterwards, there was an universal rejoicing and 
bonfires through the land.* 

Much as I have dilated on this case, I cannot let it pass without a few 
parting observations ; although what I have to say is little, if any thing, 
more than a repetition of what I have already advanced, I trust the liberal 
reader will pardon this error in an old man. My blood boils in my veins 
with horror and indignation as I write. A peer is summoned to attend in 
parliament. He refuses, as he undoubtedly has a right to do. For this 
offence alone — no other is pretended — three of his followers, gentlemen 
of the rank of knights — are hanged like sheep -stealers — Desmond him- 
self is stripped of all his immense estates — is pursued like a felon — 
finally taken — and has to give twenty-four sureties, men of wealth, for 
liis appearance. He fails to appear — probably threats of execution are 
held out against him to deter him from appearing — the recognizances 
are forfeited — and the penalty is Avrung from twenty of the sureties, 
who are utterly ruined. Has the world ever witnessed a greater com- 
plication of fraud, oppression, and rapacity based on so very slender 
a foundation ? 

* " Upon the death of the lord iustice, which insued the next J'carc, bon liers 
were made, and great joy shewed through all the relnic of Ireland." — HolliVshed, 
VI. 25C. 



CHAPTER III. 51 

Case of Gerald Fitzgerald, the sixteenth Earl of Desmond. 

This is a case of deep interest, and will justify considerable detail, 
as it is a fair specimen of the wicked system so often pursued, to drive 
the Irish and Anglo-Hibernians to desperation, for the purpose of con- 
fiscating their estates. 

Between the Desmond and Ormond families, deadly hostilities had 
long existed, the chief sources of which were disputes arising from ill- 
defined boundaries of their conterminous estates. They were daily 
aggravated, as is usual in such cases, by the petty broils engendered 
through the insolence and impertinence of tenants, servants, and re- 
tainers. Sanguinary battles had been fought, in which hundreds, and 
in one instance thousands had been in the field on each side. In an 
engagement at Affane, Feb. 16, 1584, Desmond was taken prisoner, 
and his followers completely routed. 

By tlie mediation of some mutual friends, it was finally agreed to 
submit the points of difference to the decision of Elizabeth and her 
council. Sir Henry Sydney, lord deputy of Ireland, to whom they 
applied to arrange the preliminaries/- bound them to abide the award, 
in the enormous penalty of ,£20,900 sterling, equal, at the present 
value of money, to at least 500,000 dollars. 

Queen Elizabeth was hostile to the Desmond family. The award 
was in favour of Ormond. How far partiality operated in the case — and 
how far he was entitled to a favourable award at all, on the merits of 
the case, it is impossible now to decide. But be that as it maj^ the 
award was superlatively wicked, so far as regards the amouni of da- 
mages, being no less than .^50,000, equal to above 1,200,000 dollars 
at present. With this award it was impossible for Desmond to com- 
ply; and it is therefore all but certain that it was intended to entiap 
him into a forfeiture of the penalty. All the cattle and household stuff 
in Munster, out of the corporations, were not, according to Sydney, 
worth that exorbitant sum. He added that Desmond's whole inherit- 
ance would not in forty years be worth it. Of the claims of Desmond 
on Ormond, which were about equal to those of the latter on the 
former, no notice whatever was taken. f 

• . What part Desmond paid of the damages awarded, or of the penalty 
subsequently incurred, does not appear in any of the histories. 

In consequence of this iniquitous award, new strife took place be- 
tween the parties, and blood was shed in a serious rencontre. 

Henry Sydney seized Desmond, carried him in durance round the 
country in a circuit through Munster ; and finally sent him prisoner 
to England, where he was committed to the tower, and kept in close 

* " And then by the aduise of the councell, both the said earles submitted them- 
selves to the queenes majesties order and determination : and for the performance 
thereof, they both by waie of recognisance in the chancerie were bound ech of them 
in txventy thousand [joiduIs .'" — Hollinsued, VI. 332. 

"t" " The second [article] for restitution to the Earle of Ormond and his tenants, 
by Desmonde, and his followers, semethe very strange. The booke thereof, as I 
heare, amountethe to aboue fftie thousande poundes ; and the demands of Desmonde 
against the earle are accompted to be littel lesse, whereof no mention is made ! If 
this should be restored, all the cattell and Iiouseliolde stiiffe in Mounster, {the cor- 
poratinnn excepted,') are not -worthe it ; if the landes be delyvred in pledge, all 
Desmondes whole inheritance, beinge reasonablie surveyed, xvill not ainswere this 
jC.50,000 these forty yeres to come.''' — Stunkt, I. 41. 



^% VINDICL^ HIBERNICiE. 

confinement, without trial or any legal process whatever, for seven 
years, till 1573, when he was sent to Dublin, and committed to the 
castle, whence he made his escape in a few months. Nothing worth 
notice took place between him and the ruling powers for some years 
after his escape. 

We now draw towards the awful catastrophe of this unfortunate no- 
bleman. Whatever causes of complaint he had received from or 
afforded to the government, the utmost peace and harmony were re- 
stored in 1578, when all grievances and heartburnings were entirely 
swept away, and a cordial good understanding established between 
him and Sir Henry Sydney. This acute and vigilant officer, who 
was not easily deceived, and who was extremely jealous of the Irish 
nobility, on the first of July of that year, wrote a long letter to Queen 
Elizabeth,* containing the strongest assurances of the loyalty and 
fidelity of the Irish chieftain, of which he had received such satisfactory 
demonstrations as to remove all doubt from his mind. So fair and ho- 
nourable was the conduct of the earl, that Sydney having some doubts 
of the fidelity of his brother, James Desmond, he, without hesitation, 
surrendered him to the deputy to be disposed of as he might judge 
proper. 

This happy state of affairs was soon awfully changed. Shortly 
after the date of Sydney's letter to Queen Elizabeth, he resigned the 
government; and the administration of the affairs of Munster devolved 
on Sir William Drury, who pursued a deleterious policy, which re- 
sulted in the destruction of Desmond and the desolation of the largest 
part of the province of Munster. One of his first measures on his 
accession to oflice, was admirably calculated to exasperate Desmond. 
The county of Kerry had been erected into a palatinate by Edward 
III. and royal jurisdiction given to the Earls of Desmond, of all pleas, 

• " Since the writinge of my last, the gentleman I sent to my Lord of DesmonO 
is retorned, who hath brought so soiaid tokens and testimonies of the earles Jidelli- 
tie, {jwhereof although for myne oxvne parte I had never caivse to doubt,') as her 
majestie may make as assured an accompte of his lot/a/tie, and of all the friends 
and forces he is able to make to serve her majestie, as of any one subjecte she 
hath in this land ; soche hath beene his publique speaches and demonstracions, and. 
so plainelye hath he nowe discovered himselfe to the world, as a greater proffe can- 
not be made of any man than he hath i7i this tyme made of hyme selfe. 

" And amongest other thinges, I havinge conceived some suspicion of his brother, 
Sir James, being in this queisye tyme accompanied with a greater trayne than I 
thought it convenient, consideringe the waveringe opinions of some men, hoiv easilye 
they -will conceive the ivoorst of the least poi7ite that may be doubtfullye taken, 
(and yet the supposall was more then the matter was in dede, when the troth was 
knowen,) I requyred of the earle by my messenger, the better to satisfie the world, 
and put me out of doubt of his brother. Sir James, that he would either vndertake 
fer hym hymselfe, so that thereby I might be assured of hym, that he should lyve 
duetifully, and do no harme, or ells that he would send him unto me. He assured 
my messenger that he would doe in the one and the other as I would direct hym. 
And thereupon, (hopinge by this meanes the better to assure me,) delyvered his 
brother by the hand to 7ny messenger, who, together in companie with the bishopp 
of Lymericke and Morrice Shean, the earles secretarie, came hither to me to Dublin, 
and offered to justifie himselfe in any thinge he should be justlye charged with, and 
withall proffered, if it pleased me, in any thinge to commaund or imploy him, he 
would make that good prouffe of his assured loyaltie and fidellitie to hir majestie, as 
I should have cawsc to geve hym further creditt. I was glad to heare it, and hope 
that when I shall have occasion of triall for hir majesties service, that I shall fynd 
it." — SinNET, I, 364. 



CHAPTER III. 53 

except arson, rape, forstal, and treasure found. [Smith's Kerry, 239.] 
These high privileges had been considered sacred, and duly respected 
by all the preceding lords deputies and justices. But Drury audaci- 
ously violated them, in all probability, judging from subsequent events, 
with a hope to excite resistance — and thus lead to military execution 
— attainder — and confiscation.* If these were his views, he was dis- 
appointed. Desmond, how grievous soever was the violation of his 
privileges, quietly submitted — and allowed free course to the jurisdic- 
tion of Drury. 

In the above year, 1578, Sir James Fitzmaurice, a cousin of the 
earl, who had been by a course of injustice and oppression forced to 
fly from Ireland, returned from Spain with a small force, to raise the 
standard of rebellion. His career was very short ; for very soon after 
his arrival, passing through tiie country with a small escort, of about 
twelve horsemen and a few foot soldiers, some of his horses being 
worn down, he ordered his men to seize the first they saw. They 
accordingly took two from a plough belonging to Sir William Bourke's 
tenants. A hue and cry was raised, and two of Sir William's sons 
with their tenants pursued Fitzmaurice and his people. He tried to 
persuade them to unite with him, which they declined, as they had 
suffered too much, they said, in former rebellions. A scuffle took 
place, in which the two Bourkes and Fitzmaurice were killed. [Smith's 
Kerry, 266.] 

Sir .lohn Desmond, who had been soured and exasperated by the 
unjust treatment of Sir AVilliam Drury, joined the insurgents, and took 
the command of them. A battle ensued, between the latter and the 
queen's forces, in August, 1759. The insurgents were defeated with 
considerable loss. 

Until this time, there had been no ground for accusation against the 
Earl of Desmond. He had conducted himself with the most perfect 
propriety. But suspicions of him were either entertained or pretend- 
ed. f The pretences employed to justify them were highly frivolous 
and contemptible — One was, " it was thought he had combined in a 
secret conspiration with the sons of the Earl of Clanrickarde" — and 
that he had an understanding with his brother John Desmond, who 
had suffered a grievous imprisonment merely for "a conference had 
with Shane Burke, and a combination suspected to have been concluded 
betwixt them. "I Great emphasis was laid on John Desmond's inten- 

• " Edward the Third had granted the royalties of this county to the Earl of 
Desmond : but Drury, without regard to ancient patents, determined to extend his 
jurisdiction into Kerry. Desmond pleaded the ancient privilege and exemption of 
his lands ; but finding the lord president obstinate in his purpose, reserved himself 
for an appeal to the chief governor, assuring Drury, in the mean time, that he 
should be received in Kerry with all honour and submission, and inviting him to 
reside at his house in Tralee," — Leland, II. 314. 

"j" " It was verelie thought that he was combined in a secret conspiration with the 
forelorne sonnes-of the Earle of Clanricard, as was his brother. Sir John of Des- 
mond, who for his conference had with Shane Burke -was suspected to have joiiied 
■with him in his rebellion ! as also because he had promised him aid out of Mouns- 
ter, if he would hold out, and for which he tvas committed to -ward! Which car- 
ried more likelihood, because his intention was to put awaie his owne wife and to 
have matched himselfe in marriage with Shane's sister, who was Orwaches wife, 
and of late forsaken by him !" — Hollinshed, VI. 388. 

X Sydney, I. 166, 



54 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC.i:. 

iion to put away his wife ancl to marry Shane's sister. This was 
regardeil as a corroboration of his guilt! Thus the liberty, property, 
and even the life of the nobility of Ireland were liable to be sacrificed 
for their intentions — and on the " thoughts^' and " suspicions'^ of 
their enemies! What a deplorable state of affairs! For the foulest 
purpose the mind of man or demon ever conceived, the wicked can 
always find a pretext. It is only wonderful how shallow have been 
the pretexts employed in this and other cases of atrocious injustice in 
Irish history. 

The earl sent to congratulate Drury on the result of the battle. But 
the latter affected to doubt his fidelity, and appeared determined jto 
drive him to extremities. He sent ba(;k the messenger, with orders to 
the earl to join him ; which, as tlie author of the history of Cork ob- 
serves, " remembeTing his former long imprisonment,"! he declined. 
IJut in order completely to satisfy the lord justice, and to remove all 
doubts of his fidelity, he sent the countess his wife to deliver up his 
only son, together with a Bishop Haly and a Franciscan friar, as hos- 
tages for his fidelity. 

Had the object been to obtain assurance of his loyalty, this mea- 
sure would have been abundantly sufiicient to satisly Drury. But far 
different was the purpose in view. And petty excursions were made 
into his territories by Maltby, an English commander, to provoke him 
to resistance. But at this juncture, viz. on the 1st of September, 
1579, the death of Sir Williahi Drury, from whom Maltby derived 
his authority, annulling his commission, he withdrew his troops. 

But Sir William Pelham, appointed lord justice on the 11th of Octo- 
ber, trod in the footsteps of his predecessor, and brought the affair to 
a crisis. He sent peremptory orders to Desmond to the following 
effect. 

" First, that he should deliver unto the said lord justice, doctor Sanders, and cer- 
tcine strangers of diuerse nations, now remaining in the said earles countries, and 
mainteined by such traitors and in such castells, as be at his devotion and com- 
mandement. 

2. " That he shall deliver up into hir majesties hands one of his castles of 
Carigofoile or Asketten, for the pledge of his good behaviour : which upon sundrie 
and diverse reasons is suspicious ! and he for Ids disloialtie greatlie suspected !* 

.3. " That he doo foorthwith come and simplie submit himselfe unto hir majestic, 
and to rel'erre his cause to the iudgcment of hir majestie and councell in England, or 
unto him the lord justice and councell in Ireland. 

4. " That he doo foorthwith rcpaire to the lord justice, and j'oiwe -with his lordship 
ivith all Ids forces, to prosecute his brethren and other traitors, and to assist and 
aid the earle of Ormond, lord gencrall in this service. 

" Which conditions if he will hold, then he shall be reputed as a nobleman, and 
he received into favour, notwithstanding his errours past : but if he refuse, that 

—».hB ©«♦••• — 

* This passage is entitled to particular attention. The message was written about 
the 26th or 27th of October, as Pelham arrived at Kilkenny on the 19th;t kept 
sessions there for two days ; and was several days afterwards on his circuit. The 
letter grounds the proceedings on " his good behaviour upon sundrie and diverse 
reasons, being svspicioiis — and he for his disloialtie greatlie suspected." "His 
errors past" is too mild a form to be used for any of the acts which are referred to 
in the subsequent proclamation. There is no mention made of any overt act — nor 
£iny thing that could justify the rigorous course of proceedings immediately after- 
wards adopted towards Desmond. Had any thing of that character occurred, it 
would undoubtedly have been brought prominently forward. 

t Suiitb's Cork, H. 55. + Cox, 360. 



CHAPTER HI. 55 

then let him know, (hat immediately by open proclamation he .shall be published a 
traitor." — Hollixshkii, VI. 423. 

The fourth article was intended to render the prescription as unpa- 
lateable as possible. As John Desmond was at this time so totally- 
defeated, that he never afterwards dared to encounter the royal forces, 
in regular battle, the assistance of the earl was therefore wholly unne- 
cessary, and this was clearly a work of supeierogation, intended for 
the purpose I have stated. 

To increase the chances of rejection, and more certainly to secure 
the grand object in view, the message was despatched l)y the hands 
of the Earl of Ormond, Desmond's hereditary and irreconcileable 
enemy. 

Desmond, in a letter dated the 30th of October, 1579, declined com- 
pliance, but made the most solemn promises of loyalty to the govern- 
ment. On his refusal, the bishop and friar, whom (as I have stated) he 
had sent as hostages, weie basely hanged, and his son sent to Eng-' 
land ! 

The execution of the bishop and friar was actual murder. They 
Avere sent as guarantees for the fidelity^ of tlie earl, and not being ac- 
cepted for that purpose, ought to have been returned, the lord justice 
having then no more riglit to put them to death than any other indivi- 
duals in the country. 

The earl was, and with reason, afraid to visit the lord justice. He 
had gone to the camp at Kilmallock,* in consequence of a summons 
from Drury, some months previously ; had been immediately impri- 
soned ; and had considerable difficulty in procuring his release. It is 
not therefore wonderful, that he shrunk from again confiding his person 
in the same quarter. f 

On the 1st of November, the earl was denounced as a tiaitor in the 
annexed proclamation. 

* " He sent from thense a messenger to the earle of Desmond, and so likewise to 
all the principall gentlemen of the best accompt in those partes, to come vnto him. 

" The earle in outward appeerance seemed verie willing to come ; but untill he 
had received some promise of favour from the lord iustice, he still lingered and tri- 
fled the time and came not. But in the end his lordship being veric well accompa- 
nied with horsemen and footmen, he went to the campe, and presented himselfe be- 
fore the lord iustice, and made a shew of all dutifulnesse, obedience, and fidelitie, 
whereas indeed no such thing was ment. For though his bodie were thei'e, his 
mind -was elsewhere ! for whiles he was in the campc, sundrie trecheries were prac- 
tised by him ; yet they were not so secretlie doone but they came to light, and were 
discovered to the lord justice. Whereupon he ~vus comviitted io the ciistodie of the 
knight marshall. Whiles he was in his ward, and fearing l^ast some greater mat- 
ters would be reuealed against him, he praicd accesse to the lord iustice ; and then 
he humbled himselfe verie much, and promised and sware upon his honour and alle- 
giance, that he would faithfullie and to the uttermost of his power serve hir high- 
nesse against the rebels. Whose humblenesse and promise the lord justice by the 
advise of the councell did accept, and so inlarged him." — HoLLiNsanD, VI. 415. 

j" " But here by the waie, (which should before have been said,) as he came to- 
wards Waterford through Tipporarie, the countcsse of Desmond met with him, and 
brought with hir hir onelie sonnc and heire to the earle : and being a sutor in the 
bchalfe of hir husband, presented him to the lord justice to be a pledge for the truth 
and fidelitie of the carle, hir husband. For after the time that he was set at libertie 
in the camp neere Killmallocke, he never repaired any more to the lord iustice, 
hut stood npon his o-wne keeping, not-withstanding by his letters he professed all 
hialtie and obedience, which he never meant."~HoLLiNsiiED, VI. 415. 



56 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^. 

" TIlc erle of DesmoncVs treasons articulated. 

1. "That the erle of Desmond hath practised most unnaturalUe the subversion of 
the whole state. 

2. " That he practised to bring in strangers, and practised with foren princes to 
bring and allure in strangers to invade this land. 

3. " That he fostered and maintained doctor Sanders, James Fitzmoris, and others 
beyond the seas to worke these feats. 

4. " That albeit to the vtter shew of the world, he seemed at the first to dislike 
with them at their landing: yet were they secretlie interteined by the said earles 
permission, throughout all his countie of Palatine in Kerrie. 

5. " That when his brethren most traitorouslie had murthered Henrie Dauels and 
others at Traleigh, he did let his said brethren slip, -without reproving or blaming 
of them ; and had also commended speciallie the slaughter of Edtvard Duffe, an 
Englishman, ivho at the said murthering hue in the 7iext bed vnto Dauels. 

6. " That when the strangers at Smerweeke had no waie to escape by sea, at the 
coming of Sir William Drurie, he gave place vnto them for their escape by land, and 
gave his tenants and followers libertie to aid, helpe and mainteine them. 

7. "That contrarie to the commandement given unto him by the lord iuslice, he 
returned into Kerrie, and caused the strangers to leave the fort, and to repaire to 
the towne of Dingle, and to other places which were at his deuotion, and had there 
interteinements. 

8. " That he distributed the ordinances and artillerie of the forts xmto the rebels, 
as dooth appeere by a note found in the portmantieu of doctor Mien latelie slaine 
in the incounter executed by Sir JVicholas JMalbie! !! 

9. " That he hath set at libertie such strangers as he kept colourablie as pri- 
soners, and hath appointed them to guard his houses and castels. 

10. "That he hanged most abominablie Richard Eustace, Simon Brian, and 
others the queenes subiects, for whome he vndertooke to the late lord iustice to be 
safelie brought unto him. 

11. " That he sent sundrie of his principall men, servitors and followers, and his 
household servants, as also his chicfe captains, which under the pope's banner dis- 
plaied most traitorouslie in the fields, did assailc Sir Nicholas Malbie, knight, hir 
majesties lieutenant of all Mounster, at MounSter Enagh, and which banner Nicho- 
las Williams the earles butler did that dale carie. 

12. "That he hath utterlic refused manie persuasions, friendlie counsels, sundrie 
messages, and all the good means vsed and wrought to reduce and to bring him to 
obedience. 

13. "That he hath not onelie refused to deliuer up doctor Sanders and the Spa- 
niards, which doo dailie accompanie him ; but hath broken doivne his castels, 
burned his toxvnes, and desolated his countries aforehand, to the intent hir majes- 
ties forces and subiects shall not be succoured nor refreshed'.!! 

14. " 'J'hat he dailie looketh for a further aid and a new supply of forenersH 
and dailie solicitcth the chief men of the Irish countries to ioin with him in this his 
most execrable and rebellious enterprise. 

15. "That he openlie protested and sent a message to the lord iustice that he 
■would disturbe the whole state of Ireland!!! 

" Wherefore they did pronounce, proelame, and publish him to be a most notori- 
ous, detestable and execrable traitor, and all his adherents, against hir majesties 
crowne and dignitie, vnlesse within twentie dales after this proclamation, he did 
come in, and submit himselfe." — Hollixshed, VI. 423. 

Here we have one of the many futile proclamations which were is- 
sued to denounce the Irish possessed of property, previous to the con- 
fiscation of their estates. It is deserving of a critical examination, in 
order to expose its fraud and villany. 

One feature of the transaction stamps all the patties concerned with 
lasting infamy, and clearly proves that Desmond's destruction had been 
resolved upon. The proclamation allowed him twenty days to surren- 
der himself. During these twenty days, every principle of honour, 
honesty, and justice, imperiously demanded a suspension of all hostile 
proceedings. On any other ground, the indulgence offered was a so- 



CHAPTER III. 57 

lemn mockery. This is the language of common sense. But the 
enemies of the unfortunate nobleman, in order to render his case utterly- 
desperate — to destroy all chance of submission on his part — or of his 
escape from the toils spread for his destruction — immediately broke up 
the camp, and a war of extermination commenced. 

The countess came to the camp with some propositions from her 
husband, within one hour after tlie publication of the proclamation — 
but even then found it too late. The horrible orders had already gone 
forth to convert the fairest portion of the beautiful province of Munster 
into a human slaughter house. 

This atrocious circumstance would be incredible, were it not expli- 
citly narrated by Hooker. 

" Immediatlie, and rvithin an houre after this proclamation, the countesse of Des- 
mond came to the campe ; but the campe was before dislodged from the towne ! ! ! 
and all his counlrie J'oorthtvith consumed luith fire ; and nothing -was spared 
■which fire and s-word could consume!.'!!" — Holuxshed, VI. 424. 

^^ Nothing was spared tvhich fire and sword could consume !" 
Great God ! what a horrible sentence ! Who can read it without shud- 
dering at the barbarity of tlie Goths who issued the incendiary and 
sanguinary orders ! The infernal regions could not select a band ca- 
pable of exceeding the atrocity of the perpetrators of this wickedness. 
And this, let it be distinctly observed, is not the exaggerated account 
of an enemy, whose sufferings migiit lead him to colour highly the 
barbarity of a ruthless destroyer. No: it is the simple statement of 
the affair, narrated by the cold-blooded historian of the devastators. 
Well might Elizabeth exclaim, in an agony of remorse at the horrors 
perpetrated in Ireland — " Alas ! how I fear lest it be objected to us as 
it was to Tiberius by Bato, concerning the Dalmatian commotions, 
' You, you it is that are in fatdt, ivho have committed your Jlocks, 
not to shepherds, but to wolves T " — Camden, 219. 

It is worthy of particular notice, as shedding strong light on this 
flagitious transaction, that two of the twelve members who composed 
the privy council, Lord Delvin and Lord Gormanstown,* positively re- 
fused to sign the proclamation, in(hibitably on account of its manifest 
injustice. Of the remaining ten, whose signatures appear to sanction this 
cruel document, five belonged to the Ormond family, whose inveterate 
malice, the persecution and utter vuin of Desmond were well calculated 
to gratify — viz. Ormond, Edward Butler, Edmund Butler, Theobald 
Butler, and Piers Butler. Among the other five were the baron Dun- 
boyn, and the bishop of Waterford, who, for aught we know, may also 
have been Butlers. 

To enable the reader duly to appreciate the value of this proclama- 
tion, let him answer the question, what chan(;e of justice would a 
whig have stood, if a bill of indictment were to be framed against him 
by a host of refugees during the American revolution — a recusant 
monk or friar from one of Danton's tribunals — or a defender from a 
band of envenomed Orangemen? Even such chance would Desmond 
have had before a council composed one half at least of the house of 
Ormond, his bitter and all-powerlul enemies — and the other half most 
probably under tlie direct influence of that rival family. 

Those who consider with what facility, rapacity and ambition, in 

* Cox, 360. 
8 



58 VINDICLE HIBERNIC.E. 

all ages, have forged pretexts to warrant their lawless outrages and 
depredation, will readily admit that the most serious of these items 
were in all probability forged. For the declaration of hostilities which 
took place, it was necessaiy to find some pretence. And it is only to 
1)0 wonilcrcd at, that the major part of the accusations were so unsub- 
stantial and so utterly devoid of plausibility. But were they all ju- 
dicially established, they would not warrant the awful devastation 
which followed, and which cannot be contemplated without horror and 
detestation. 

How extremely difficult it is at this distance of time and place, to 
disprove any assertions whatever, which wear the semblance of plau- 
sibility, how false soever they may be, must be obvious to the meanest 
capacity. For instance, had this proclamation stated that Desmond 
had murdered live hundred Englishmen in their beds — set tire to 
Cork — poisoned the wells — or blown up part of the English army — 
we could not disaprove it at present. We might, indeed, by a combi- 
nation of circumstances, prove the allegations so utterly improbable, 
as to destroy all conlidence in them. But to establish the complete 
negative of them would be absolutely impossible. In the investigation, 
therefore, of this tissue of accusations, I must necessarily labour un- 
der considerable difficulty. But I hope the reader will have the can- 
dour to agree, if I make it appear that six or seven of them are futile — 
one or two absolutely false — and one or two utterly improbable — that 
the remainder are undeserving of credit. 

The proclamation is headed " the erle of Desmond's treasons arti- 
culated." Surely the lirst vague article about practising to subvert the 
state — the 4th about strangers entertained by his permission — the 5th, 
wherein he is charged with " letting his brethren slip, after the murder 
of Davells, without reproving them" — the 6th, about giving place to 
the strangers to escape — the 7th, about his returning to Kerry, contrary 
to the commandment of the lord justice — the 9th, about setting strangers 
at liberty — the 12th, wherein he is charged with refusing many persua- 
sions, friendly counsels, &c. ; and the 13th, wherein he is charged with 
refusing to deliver up Dr. Saunders, far from being treason, are not 
even common misdemeanors, and, introduced here, are futile to the last 
degree, and absurdly destroy confidence in the remainder. 

The 5th article requires further consideration. One branch of it 
states that Desmond " commended speciallie the slaughter of Edward 
Dufte, an Englishman, who, at the said murthering, laie in the next 
bed unto Davells." 

Now even if he had " speciallie commended this slaughter," it fur- 
nishes no ground for proclaiming him a traitor — for setting a price on 
his head — and slaughtering his unoflending tenantry, after having des- 
olated their country by fire. To commend murder specially, or other- 
wise, displays a very wicked disposition : but however we may abhor 
such odious commendation, it is not cognizable by any court, nor 
punishable by any law. Therefore its introduction appears only in- 
tended to swell the list of charges ; to render the devoted nobleman 
odious ; and to reconcile the world to the destruction prepared for him. 
But the fact is, that the assertion is not only imtrue, but the very re- 
verse of truth ; for the earl utterly disapproved and reprobated the flagi- 
tious act, according to Hooker himself, who explicitly states this fact 



CHAPTER III. 59 

a few pages before the proclamation. " Tlie earl himself, when he 
heard hereof was marvellously greeved and offended with his brother, 
and gave him such sharpe speeches, that it was thought they would not 
so soone have been freendes againe."* Camden confirms the opinion 
of Hooker. " The earl, when he heard it, condemned the fact, de- 
testing it with all his hearth — Camden, 237. 

Nothing can be more clear and explicit than these statements. They 
stamp ATROCIOUS LIE in broad characters on this particular of the 
accusations, and prove, to the conviction of every man, not wilfully 
blind, that the accusers of Desmond, for the gratification of their 
avarice and their hostility to him, had no scruple about recurring to 
flagrant falsehood in order to secure his destruction. Had the entire 
privy council come into a court of justice, and sworn to all the accusa- 
tions in one mass, the proof of the perjury in the one instance would 
nullify their testimony as to all the others. And it would not be un- 
reasonable to apply the rule in this case, where a notorious falsehood 
is unblushingly asserted, to nullify the other assertions from the same 
quarter, with or without deposition. 

The falsehood of the fifteenth article can be established with almost 
as much certainty as that of the fifth.' All the letters and messages of 
Desmond abounded in professions of loyalty, utterly inconsistent with 
the tenor of this accusation, even if we suppose him entirely insincere. 
About a month previous to the proclamation he had, moreover, as we 
have seen, delivered his only child, together with bishop Haly and a 
Franciscan friar, to the deputy as hostages — and the letter of the 30th, 
which was sent two days previous to his denunciation, does not war- 
rant the most remote idea of " disturbing the whole state of Ireland.'^ 
Even if he had such an intention, he would be an arrant fool, to announce 
it, so as to enable his enemies to defeat his purpose. Of the above letter. 
Hooker states — " He returned his answer by a letter, dated at Crough, 
the 30th of October, 1579, vsing therein nothing but triflings and de- 
laies, requiring restitution for old wrongs and injuries, and iustijieing 
himselfe to be a good subiect though he doo not yeeld to the foresaid 
articles." 

This would be abundantly sufficient to prove the fallacy of tlie ar- 
ticle. But the disproof does not rest wholly on this ground. The 
queen's forces had recently and signally defeated Sir John Desmond, 
and were in full force, elated with their victory. After having made 
so many zealous efforts to avoid being driven to extremities, while his 
brother was in the field with a powerful body of troops, it would have 
been the height of madness to have provoked the wrath of the govern- 
ment by such a rodomontade declaration, at a time when his chances 
of success in a struggle with that government were wholly annihilated. 
I hope these facts and inferences are enough to satisfy every reader 
that this charge is utterly destitute of foundation. 

An allegation somewhat more absurd than this appears against Des- 
mond in Cox and other writers, which I adduce merely to show how 
predominant has been the spirit of falsehood in his case. "He wrote, 
on the 20th of November, 1579, an arrogant letter to the lord justice, 
importing that he and his brethren were entered into the defence of 
the Catholic faith, under the protection of the pope and the King of 

* HoUinshetl, VI. 410. 



60 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC,^. 

Spain — and invited the lord jttsiice to join with themT^* That is to 
say, the Earl Desmond, a Roman Ca^Jiolic, a rebel, defeated, and 
prostrate in strength and hopes, invites the lord justice of Ireland, a 
protestant, at the head of a victorious army, to join him in rebellion 
against his sovereign ! Has the world ever exhibited a much more 
complete specimen of stupidity and malice than appears in this charge? 
Those are but poor artists in the vile trade of lying, who concoct their 
stories so as to carry condemnation imprinted on their foreheads, and 
to prevent even those who would wish them true, from giving them 
credit; for the most bigoted enemy of the Irish would reject this mi- 
serable tale. 

Camden has been absurd enough to perpetuate this story, and to 
disgrace his Life of Elizabeth by the narration. 

" Desmond and liis brethren, though lurking and hiding their heads, signified to 
the lord justice in a long letter, that tliey had iindertaken tlie protection of the Ca- 
tholic faith in Ireland, — and that by authority of the bishop of Rome, and direc- 
tion of the Catholic king: and therefore they do kindly advise him to join -with 
them in so pious and meritorious a cause for the salvation of his oxvn soul! .'" — 
Cajidex, 340. 

Two otlier items of the proclamation are so directly contradictory of 
each other, that we are lost in admiration at the folly of those who 
coupled them together. 

By the 13th article he is accused of " having broken down his caS' 
tels, burnt his townes, and desolated his countries aforesaid, to the 
intent her majesty's forces and subjects shall not be succoured nor re- 
freshed.'^ Yet in the very next, the fourteenth, he is accused of 
" dailie looking for a supply of foreigners, and dailie soliciting the 
chiefe men of the Irish countries to join him in this his most execrable 
and rebellious enterprize." The absurdity and wickedness of these 
accusations are palpable to the meanest capacity. They carry fraud 
more legibly on their forehead than the former one. Desmond, as 
appears by his letter to Ormond, and the whole tenor of his conduct, 
was a man of talents. The veriest idiot that ever existed, if he medi- 
tated insurrection or rebellion, would not destroy his castles, or burn 
his towns, and desolate his country. 

The " distribution of the ordinance and artillery of the forts, unto 
the rebels," which is one of the most important items, rests on so rot- 
ten a foundation, as not to be worth a moment's notice. It was dis- 
covered by "a note found in the portmantieu of doctor Mien, lately 
slaine in the encounter executed by sir Nicholas Malbie V 

The flagrant forgery perpetrated by Sir George Carew, without any 
scruple of conscience, and his robbery of the Spaniard's despatches, as 
stated in the sixth chapter, pretty clearly show what degree of credit 
is to be attached to '■^ notes found in portmanteaus " and how delicate 
a sense of honour was entertained by the ofiicers then employed 
against the Irish. 

. On this article, respecting " the ordinance and artillery," it may be 
asked., had such a circumstance, which must have been scarcely pos- 
sible to be concealed, taken place, is it at all supposable that it should 
not have been discovered till the note was found in doctor Allen's port- 
manteau ? To this question no answer can be given that will not stamp 
rank forgery on this '■^portmanteau'" story. 

• Cox, 361. 



CHAPTER III. 61 

This *'note" of Dr. Allen's is entitled to further consideration. 
Perjury and forgery were, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centu- 
ries, among the most potent engines of government, when any sinister 
or flagitious purpose was to be effected. The instances of the em- 
ployment of these vile means are innumerable, and lie scattered 
throughout the histories of that period. The destruction of Mary 
queen of Scots was accomplished in a great degree by such means. 
To the extent of the use of forgery in the case of Mary, Camdett 
bears ample testimony : — 

"Verily there were at this time some subtile ivays taken to try how men stood 
affected. Counterfeit Letters -zvei-e privily sent in the name of the queen of 
Scots and the fugitives, and left in Papists'' houses.'.' Spies were sent abroad up 
and down the country, to take notice of people' s discourse, and lay hold of their 
■words .' Reporters of vain and idle stories were admitted and credited .'" — Cam- 
den, 294. 

These " counterfeit letters'''' to entrap the Roman Catholics of Eng- 
land, were written about the same period as the '■'■note'''' so conve- 
niently ^"^ found'" in Dr. Allen's portmanteau, and by the same kind of 
men. 

On their use in Ireland, and the pernicious effects they produced 
on the afiairs of the insurgents, Camden makes the following re- 
mark : — 

The deputy Mountjoy " so cunningly cherished a distrust which he 
had wrought amongst the rebels, by counterfeit letters, that misdoubt- 
ing one another, they parted asunder." — Camden, 584. 

The accusation contained in the eleventh article is obviously incor- 
rect. The battle at Monaster Ena was fought during the life time of 
Sir William Drury,* several months before the proclamation appeared : 
and if the earl had been guilty of so palpable an act of rebellion, as 
*' sending his principal men, servitors, and followers, and his house- 
hold servants, as also his chief captains, to assail Sir Nicholas Malbie," 
can it be supposed for a moment, that the government would have 
temporized with him any longer ? — that they would not at once imme- 
diately after the signal defeat of Sir John Desmond in that battle have 
pursued hirh with fire and sword, as they afterwards did ? — that they 
would have allowed him time to acquire strength ? In a word, that he 
would have sent his "chief captains," &c. to the field, thus exposing 
himself to all the consequences of rebellion, after having neglected to 
take all the chances in his power, for success, by joining his brother 
with all his forces while he was yet at the head of an army ? 

The contest continued for three years with every possible advantage 
on the part of the government, and with the utmost disparity of force 
on that of Desmoid. The horrid waste of human life, and the depre- 
dation of property with which it tarnished the Irish annals, belong to 
the next chapter. Suffice it here to state, that John Desmond was 
killed in 1582, and the earl, who had been reduced to the most abject 
distress, and forced to fly from place to place to save his life, was mur- 
dered in 1583. The manner of his death was as follows. 

The Earl of Ormond, his deadly enemy, pursued him and his wretch- 
ed adherents, with the most indefatigable rancour and industry. Des- 
mond finally retreated to a bog, with a few of his followers, whose fideli- 

* Hollinshed, VI. 416. , 



62 



VINDICI^ ITIBERNIC.E. 



ty .remained unimpaired by his fallen fortunes. When he was at the 
lowest ebb, they ventured out, and seized some cattle for his subsist- 
ence. The owner of the cattle, and some soldiers of an English gar- 
rison pursued the prey to the bog. Seeing a light at some distance in 
a miserable hut, they advanced under the guidance of one Kelly, of 
Moriarta. When they entered the hut, they found only one venerable 
old man, feeble and languid, stretched bciore the lire. Kelly brutally 
attacked and wounded him, without knowing who he was. The hap- 
less old man invoked the ruffian to spare his life ; and supposing, as 
was natural, that the revelation of his name would inspire pity and 
reverence, and insure his life, cried out — "Spare me — I am the Ead 
of Desmond." He was miserably deceived. The disclosure produced 
an effect diametrically opposite to his expectations. It hastened his end. 
Kelly chopped ofl" his head, and conveyed it to Orraond, who forwarded 
it to Elizabeth, by whose order it was impaled on London bridge. | 

Thus fell, a victim to the undying malice and unsatiable I'apacity of 
his enemies, a nobleman whose estates exceeded in extent those of any 
other English subject. They were forfeited to the crown,* and above 
one-third of them conveyed to some of the leading dependants of the 
court,t who were principally instrumental in producing the war, at the 
annual rent of 1976/. 7s. 5rf.§ being about tivo pence per acre! 

• " The Earl of Desmond and his accomplices had forfeited a vast estate, amiount- 
ing in all to 574,628 acres of land. The carl himself had a prodigious revenue, for 
these times ; and perhaps greater than any other subject in her majesty's dominions." 
—Cox, 392. 



f Co. Waterford, Sir Christopher Hutton 
Co. Cork and Waterford, Sir W. Raleigh 
Co. Kerry, Sir Edward Denny 
lb. Sir William Harbart 

lb. Charles Harbart 

lb. John Holly .... 

lb. Capt. Jenkin Conway . . 

lb. John Champion . . . 

Cork, Sir Warham Saint Leger 

lb. Hugh Caff 

lb. Sir Thomas Norris .... 
lb. Arthur Robins .... 

lb. Arthur Hide » . . . 

lb. Francis Butcher and Hugh Wirth 
lb. Thomas Say .... 

lb. Arthur Hyde .... 

lb. Edmund Spencer .... 
Cork and Waterford, Richard Beacon 
Limerick, Sir William Courtney . 
lb, Francis Berkly, Esq. 

lb. Robert Ansjow .... 
lb. Richard and Alex. Fitton 
lb. Edmund Manwaring, Esq. 
lb. Waterford, and Tipperary, Sir Edward Fitton 
Jb. Wm. Trenchard, Esq. 
lb. George Thornton, Esq. . . 

lb. Sir George Bourcher, 
lb. Henry Billingsley, Esq. . 



Inverary, Thomas, Earl of Ormond 



% Smith's Kerry, 266. 



Jlcres. 

10,910 

12,000 
6,000 

13,276 
3,768 
4,422 
526 
1,434 
6,000 
6,000 
6,000 
1,800 
5,574 

24,000 
3,778 

11,766 
3,028 
6,000 

10,500 
7,250 
2,599 
3,026 
3,747 

11,515 

12,000 
1,500 

12,880 

11,800 
3,000 



205,699 ! ! ! ! 



§ Cox, 393. 



CHAPTER III. 63 

Case of Baron Nugent, Lord Kildare, Baron Delvin, c^-c. 

In the year 1580, under the administration of Lord Grey, a conspira- 
cy of Baron Nugent, Lord Kildare, Baron Delvin, and others, was pre- 
tended to be discovered for the purpose of extirpating the English,* 

That there was no foundation for tiiis plot — ihat it was a mere fa- 
brication, similar to so many which preceded and followed it, is ren- 
dered all but absolutely certain by the following circumstances, which 
shed strong light on the subject, and afiord the- highest degree of pro- 
bability, indeed every thing short of absolute certainty, which the 
nature of the case will admit, to the idea of its having been a fabri- 
cation. 

The first circumstance is all-important. Camden, it appears, in- 
forms us that the deputy '■^incurred great displeasure with the queen 
for putting these tnen to death.''^ Queen Elizabeth's stern character 
is well known. She was made of too firm a texture to feel " displea- 
sure," "great" or small, at the execution of real ci-iminals. Her 
"displeasure" must indubitably have arisen from a conviction of the 
innocence of the sufferers. It is not, therefore, assuming too much, to 
assert, that this fact alone, in the absence of all other evidence, would 
warrant the most serious doubts, almost amounting to a total disbelief 
of the reality of the plot. 

There is another circumstance not unworthy of attention. The only 
two original writers, who mention the death of these gentlemen, so 
far as appears from history, are Hooker and Camden, whose ac- 
counts are very different indeed. They were both cotemporaries, 
the former having greatly the advantage of the latter, by being at the 
scene of action, and recording events, of many of which he was an 
eyewitness. Camden received them at a distance, heightened and 
caricatured by the magnifying powers of common fame. Of course, in 
the discrepancy between them. Hooker's authority is far more to be 
relied on, than Camden's. 

" Hooker, a coteniporary writer, resident and employed in Ireland, and by no 
means partial to the old English race, doth not take notice of this formidable con- 
spiracy, except by slightly mentioning a design formed against tlie person of the 
deputy^ — Leland, II. 345. 

• In this year, [1580] took place the discovery of a plot of " divers noble families 
in Leinster, most of them descended of English blood, partly out of affection to the 
Romish religion, and partly out of hatred to the new-come English, who, many times, 
contrary to the intent of the law, excluded them as mere Irish from offices of gov- 
ernment and magistracy, to surprise the lord deputy with his household ; to take 
the Castle of Dublin at unawares, where all the provision of war lay ; and to put 
the English in Ireland every man to the sword ! and so close were they in carry- 
ing on their conspiracy, that they never discoursed about it more than two and two 
together .' ! But among so many as were privy to it, it came at last to light, and was 
by the execution of a few timely extinguished. The most remarkable of whom was 
J. Nugent, baron of the exchequer, a man of a singular good life andreputatioti, who 
was merely circumvented, (as the Irish report,) by the cunning of his adversaries. 
He, relying upon the conscience of his own innocency, when the lord deputy faith- 
fxdly promised him his life if he woiild confess himself guilty, chose rather, being 
guiltless, to undergo an infamous death, than by betraying his own innocency, to 
lead an infamous life. Howsoever, the truth were in this matter, certainly the lord 
Grey incurred great displeasure with the queen for putting these men to death." 
— Camden, 257. 



JQ4. VINDICL^ HIBERNICf:. 

We may fairly assume, that had there been any foundation whatever 
for the report of the plot, as stated, by Camden, it could not have es- 
caped Hooker, and would assuredly have been by him recorded- 

How then, shall we account for the high colouring of the picture by 
Camden ? Probably Grey, finding his conduct severely reprobated, 
on the ground of the original story, added the aggravating particulars 
in his statements to the English ministry, to palliate his crime. 

The refusal of Nugent, a man of fair unblemished chai-acter, elevated 
.station, and high standing in society, to accept his life, on condition of 
confessing himself guilty of the crime alleged against him, must be 
allowed to be entitled to the most serious consideration. It " brought 
the utmost discredit on Lord Grey's administration." — Leland, H. 346. 

One other circumstance, still more important, remains. The Earl of 
Kildare and his son-in-law, burou Delvin, were among the persons im- 
plicated. They escaped the axe and the gibbet in Ireland, and were 
sent prisoners to England, where they were all tried and acquitted. 

" On a fair and candid examination, they were all acquitted of every charge and 
suspicion of disloyalty. The precipitation, with which Nugent and the other cul- 
prits had been executed, now became doubly odious. Grey was represented as a 
man of blood, who hud not only dishonoured his nation and sovereign among 
foreigners, but alienated the hearts of all the Irish subjects by repeated barbari- 
ties. Detested in his government, and severely censured in England, he grew 
weary of his present charge, and petitioned to be recalled." — Leland, II. 346. 

These facts and inferences are offered to the reader's consideration, 
for rejection or acceptance, in proportion to their importance and bear- 
ing on the subject. I fondly hope that they will satisfy any rational 
mind, that the plot was, in all probability, a contrivance of Lord Grey's 
for the gratification of his avarice, or his malice, or both united. 

From the mode in which Cox mentions this plot, for Avhich baron 
Nugent was sacrificed, it is almost certain that he disbelieved it, al- 
though he does not explicitly express that opinion — "Whether they 
were guilty or not, I leave, (as I found it,) doubtful." — Cox, 367. 

Spencer, who endeavours to defend Lord Grey, nevertheless states 
the character given of him in England, in stronger terms than Leland ; 
and from various circumstances to be found in the Irish history during 
his administration, particularly the butchery at Smeerwick,* there can- 
not be a doubt but the character was richly merited — 

" Complaint was made against him, that he tvas a bloodie man, and regarded 
not the life of her subiects no more than dogges, but had -wasted and consumed all, 
so as noiv she had nothing almost left, but to reigne in their ashes." — Spewcer, 
168. 

Case of the O^Moores and O^ Connors. 

These two septs were harassed and goaded into resistance by she- 
riffs and marshals — and being unable to stand against the forces of the 
government, were obliged to conceal themselves. Some English of- 
ficers having found out their retreat, persuaded them to surrender, and 
proposed to make their peace. 'I'hey accordingly went to England — 
but were thrown into prison — and their lands bestowed on those whose 
insidious counsels they had followed. f 

* See postea, Chap. IV. 

■j- " Some English officers, who had discovered their retreats, proposed to make 
their peace. It was insinuated with what clemency the Irish Insurgents in the late 



CHAPTER III. 65 

The case of Shane, or John O^Nial. 

Of all the Irish chieftains during the sixteenth century, Shane or 
John O'Nial, was by far the most powerful. He was regarded by his 
countrymen as sovereign prince of Ulster; of Avhich piovince almost 
all the nobility and gentry were his feudatories, under different tenures. 
His estates were of enormous extent, and great value. They excited 
the rapacity of the Irish administration and its dependants, who were 
on the watch for a pretext to confiscate ihem. 

Forged plots were the means resorted to in this, as in so many other 
cases. The temptations to subornation, for the purpose of effecting 
confiscation, were powerful. And forgery and perjury were then, as 
they have always been, a saleable commodity, and never were there 
stronger temptations or less reluctance to employ them. That the 
one party should buy oaths, which proved so valuable, and that the 
other party should sell them at the regular market price, is not won- 
derful. 

From the date of his accession to the title and estates of his father, 
he was engaged in repeated skirmishes and warfare with the English, 
caused partly by their depredations — partly on the ground of pretended 
plots — and partly from the iavour shown by the government to his 
bastard brother Hugh. But into the details of the early part of his 
history I shall not enter, confining myself to those circumstances which 
immediately preceded and led to his destruction. 

After one of those petty warAxres, he had a conference with the de- 
puty Sussex, and immediately afterwards sailed for England, and paid 
his first visit to the court of Elizabeth in Dec, 1561, whither he went 
to satisfy the queen of the provocations he had received, and to justify 
his conduct. He was received with attention — succeeded completely — 
and returned home in May, 1502. 

But his enemies were indefatigable. They thirsted after his posses- 
sions ; were resolved, if possible, to dispossess him ; and commenced 
their operations the very next year after his return. 

The auri sacra fames has in all ages goaded mankind, even in well 
regulated societies, to violate the rules of honour and justice. But I 
repeat what I have already observed, and shall be occasionally called 
on to reiterate, that so many of the pretended plots should be superla- 
tively absurd, and so much « la Munchausen, is truly unaccountable. 
The folly of the fabricators appears to have kept pace with their rapa- 
city. Some of these plots seem as if they were studiously contrived, 
to ascertain how far public credulity could be carried. 

The conspiracy, or rather " coji.s'jyzVaczes," with which commenced 
those nefarious attempts on the life and estate of Shane O'Nial, which 
were finally ci'owned with success, partake in an eminent degree of 
this character, and add to the weight of evidence already offered to the 

reign had been treated, on their submission ; what favours and even what honours 
they had received at the court of England. They were advised to take the same 
course, which they were assured would be attended with the same success. They 
embraced this counsel, submitted, and consented to attend Saint Leger into Eng- 
land. But here the only favour granted, was, that they were not brought to imme- 
diate execution. They ivere committed to prison, their lands declared forfeit, and 
granted to those by ivhose counsels they had surrendered !! I !^^ — Leiand,!!. 229. 

9 



gg VINDICLf: HIBERNICiE. 

reader, to show by how very slender and precarious a tenure, life and 
property were held by the nobility and gentry of Ireland. 

For the account of these ''conspiracies,'' we are indebted to Sir 
James Ware, whose narration is given with apparent full reliance on 
its genuineness. And yet it is so truly ludicrous, that it would at pre- 
sent be treated with contempt, if offered to the meanest justice of the 
peace in the country, against a field negro. The nature of these " con- 
spiracies'' is given up in the following statement: — 

"At this time the lord lieutenant received some intimation that Shane O'Nial was 
contriving neiv conspiracies." — Wabe, 6 Eiiz. 7. 

This alarming exordium would lead to the belief that some most 
important disclosure was about to be made — as, for instance, the rais- 
ing of large bodies of men clandestinely — the purchase of quantities of 
arms and ammunition — the building or repairing castles or fortifications 
— or some dangerous machinations tending " to subvert the state." 
Such is the promise held out by these "new conspiracies "—but after 
exciting these great expectations, it appears that the whole is merely a 
"■new" version of a very old fable — Parturiunt monies — nascitur 
ridiculus mus. These " new conspiracies " sunk into the following 
old wife's tale : 

"A kinsman of his, [Shane O'Nial's,] drinking in company with the collector of 
the archbishop of Armagh's revenues at Drogheda, was heard to swear by his soul, 
that his cousiii -was a patient fool, and so were his ancestors, in taking an earldom 
from the kings of England, when by right themselves were kings. He further added 
by way of question to the bishop's servant. Is it not so 1 The man was glad to 
comply, and to say it was so, seeing six of the Irish in the room, with their skeans 
by them. But as soon as he came to his master, Adam Loftus, he cried out. Far- 
don me, master. The archbishop asking him. Why, what hast thou done 1 He 
told him the whole story. Whereupon he -wrote to the lord lieutenant about it .'"— 
Wake, 6 Eliz. 7. 

The clue to the proceedings in this, and in the other cases already 
narrated, is plain and simple — Leland stales it in a very few words : — 

" It was the interest of the English officers to represent their conduct in the se- 
verest light. If once declared rebels, their lands aiid property lay at the mercy of 
their pursuers." — Leland, II. 347. 

"With this clue, we can readily account for the endless succession of 
fabricated plots, and the so-often-repeated aggressions upon the Irish 
and Anglo-Hibernians. The temptations were irresistible. Lord Straf- 
ford displays the glorious harvest which deputies reaped out of these 
plots, and ''new" and old "conspiracies." To suppose that their 
subordinate agents did not derive their full share of the plunder, would 
argue against the universal experience of the world in all analogous 
cases. 

" Others had the happiness not only to enjoy, but to have their labours rewarded 
besides ; my Lord Chichester with land at one gift worth at this day ten thousand 
pounds a year I! the Lord Falkland ten thousand pounds in money at once I" — 

STBAFlOnD, II. 294. 

Lands worth ten thousand pounds a year! Ten thousand pounds 
in money at once! What a hideous view this affords of the affairs of 
Ireland ! How extensive the depredation on the wretched Irish to 
make up these preys ! And how strong the temptations such douceurs 
afforded to fraud and peculation ! 

It is difficult to decide which is greater, our disgust at the puerility 
of this miserable fabrication, or our abhorrence of the wickedness of 



CHAPTER III. 67 

those who could make it a pretext to plunge a large section of countiy 
in all the horrors of warfare for the purpose of feeding their avarice 
with the plunder of one of the richest subjects in the kingdom. A 
truant boy of even mediocre talents, who was planning to deceive and 
bar out his schoolmaster, would have invented a more plausible tale to 
accomplish his purpose. 

These " new conspiracies," to which so much importance was at- 
tached, that they were communicated to the lord lieutenant and council, 
while they prove the poverty of intellect of the contrivers, fully prove, 
beyond the possibility of doubt, another point of far more importance 
' — that is, the innocence of O'Nial ; as a character must be very pure, 
indeed, against which no other objection could be raised by persons 
devoured by the desire of dispossessing him of his estate. 

This statement merits particular attention in an important point of 
view. A nobleman of an illustrious family is denounced as a conspirator, 
and war is made upon him, in consequence of the chattering nonsense 
of two garrulous servants. One of these throws himself at his master's 
feet, craving pardon for a crime, which, it is presumed, must have been 
misprision of treason at least ! And this paltry story of the six skeans 
is incorporated into a grave history, of considerable reputation, and has 
hitherto been regarded as genuine ! This is one of a thousand proofs 
how miserable a rhapsody Irish history is, and with how much caution 
its statements should be received by those who do not willingly lend 
themselves to deception. 

Sir James Ware informs that "this" [that is to say, the story of 
O'Nial's kinsman — and the six skeans — and the servant falling on Ms 
knees] " created a suspicion of what afterwards came to pass— ^or he 
was presently up in rebellion again.^'i There is a small error here, 
a transposition of facts. He was attacked in consequence of these 
*' new conspiracies''^ — resisted — and this was what is styled "rebels 
lion." 

It will doubtless appear extraordinary, but is nevertheless true, that 
in consequence of those " new conspiracies," considerable bodies of 
troops were raised, and dispatched against O'Nial — his territories 
were invaded — considerable "preys of cattle made" — and some of 
his towns taken and destroyed. Both parties, however, fearing the 
ultimate result, were inclined to a compromise, which accordingly 
took place, under the mediation of O'Nial's kinsman, the Earl of Kil- 
dare. 

In an interview between Sydney and O'Nial, the latter displayed 
fiueh talent and address, as surprised the English officers. His claim 
to the title of O'Nial and the family estate had been questioned in 
favour of his elder brother Hugh and his heirs, who had been counte- 
nanced by the English, with a view of fostering dissentions in that 
great family.'*^ He fully established the absurdity and injustice of 

■iiiia @ ©««•— 

* The vile system of fomenting dissention among the Irish had been one of the 
grand levers of the government from its first establishment. That it was the favourite 
policy of Elizabeth's cabinet may be seen by consulting Leland, Vol. II. page 355. 
It is distinctly avovped as the policy of St. Leger, lord deputy in the reign of Henry 
VIIL, that " he made it his business to break the dependencies of the Irish ; and to 

t Ware, 6 Eli^. 7. 



68 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC.^. 

Hugh's pretensions, as he was the bastard son of a blacksmith's wife, 
by whose husband he had been maintained till he was sixteen years 
of age, when, for the first time, his mother, countenanced by some of 
the dependents on the government, alleged him to be the son of Con 
O'Nial, the father of Shane ; that by no law of England or Ireland had 
a bastard a claim to the inheritance ; but that independent of his own 
rights by paternity, he had other claims of a high and indefeasible 
order, as he bad been freely and legitimately chosen chief by the con- 
gregatedtt, members of the sept. He painted in glowing colours the 
frivolous grounds on which liis loyalty and fidelity had been called in 
question, the injuries and outrages oliered him, and the patience with 
which he had borne them. In a word, he silenced his enemies by sf 
most eloquent appeal to the honour, justice, and understanding of his 
astonished auditors.* 

The council, nevertheless, Avere for apprehending him, notwith- 
standing the irrefragable nature of his pleas and the justice of his cause. 
But to this Sydney would not consent. He declined deciding on the 
subject, and referred it to Queen Elizabeth and her council. 

Accordingly O'Nial made his appearance at the court of the queen 
attended by a train of his gallowglasses, equipped in the martial habi- 
liments of his country.! 

He there pleaded his cause as eloquently and powerfully as he had 
•done before Sydney, and with equal astonishment on the part of his 
auditors. He carried conviction to their minds, and covered his enemies 
with shame. He was favourably received by Elizabeth, to whom he 
did homage and swore fidelity. She dismissed him with* honours and 
presents — created him a baron of the kingdom of Ireland — and thus 
entitled him to a seat in the Irish parliament. 

On his return home, anno 1563, he fully redeemed his pledge of loy- 
alty. He raised a considerable body of troops, with which he attacked 
and defeated the Scotch, who had invaded Ulster, where they had 
made considerable conquests. He completely subdued and drove them 
out of the province, and captured their general, who was mortally 
wounded in an engagement. His talents as a statesman were not infe- 
rior to those he displayed in the field. To his admirable system for the 
administration of affairs in Ulster, Campion bears strong testimony. | 

Cox passes an encomium on him, that '■'■ he jjrotccted the poor, and 

— '»»-9©®««— 

that end, iijion all references to liiiu, /le took care that the weaker parti/ might 
depend on the go-oernment for protection, and that he should not I'ely upon, nor be 
under the sulijection of any other.'' — Cox, 278. 

* " The spirit and 'address of this plea do not bespeak the sottishness and stupidity 
of a drunkard. Sydney consulted his counsellors ; his counsellors were silenced by 
the reasoning, and astonished at the fnmncss of the Irish lord. By their advice he 
replied, that the points now stated were of too .great consequence to receive an 
immediate decision ; that they were first to be communicated to the queen." — 
Leland, II. 271. 

•j- " Armed with the battle axe, their heads bare, their hair flowing on their shoulders, 
their linen vests dyed with satTron, with long and open sleeves, and surcharged with 
their short military harness ; a spectacle astonishing to the people, who imagined 
that they beheld the inhabitants of some distant quarter of the globe." — Leland, II. 
278. 

t " lie reduced the north so properly, that if any subject could approve the loss 
of money or goods, he vou/d assuredly either force the robber to restitution, or 
of his owne cost redceme the harme to the loosers contcnfation.^' — Campiox, 189. 



CHAPTER II. 69 

was orderly in every thing, except" what he styles " his tyranny over 
the lords and gentlemen of Ulster, whom he claimed to be his vassals." 
—Cox, 317. 

This reformation of the country in so short a space of time, equally 
proves the talents and merits of O'Nial, and the ductility of the Irish 
under a good administration. It is a strong satire on the English policy, 
of which the inevitable eflect was to deteriorate the manners and morals 
of the people. 

But all these services and merits could not outweigh the demerit of 
his great estate, which the English who had flocked to Ireland to 
"better their shattered fortunes" devoured in expectation. 

The decree had gone forth for his destruction. There was in this 
instance no plot even pretended. The aggression was Avicked, wanton, 
and unprovoked. 

Ware states the ground of the commencement of hostilities — 

1566. " On the complaint of the nohiUtii, the lord deputy raised a great army to 
root out Shane 0'j\''iaL" — Ware, 9 Eiiz. 10. 

This requires explanation. Sydney, the lord deputy, was a disci- 
ple of Machiavel. He distinctly avowed his principle to be divide et 
imp era. 

" I am, and ever Have bene of opinion, and holde the same for an infallible prin- 
ciple, that the discipacion of the great lordes and their countries, by good distribu- 
cion into maney handes, is a sounde way of proceadinge to the perfecte reformacion 
of this unhappie and cursed estate." — Sydney, 1. 96. 

This was his political creed — and like too many other statesmen he 
believed that the end sanctified the means. He considered the power 
of O'Nial as too formidable for the safety of the English government, 
and determined to crush it, regardless of the fidelity of, and the services 
rendered to the government by, O'Nial. 

As a preparatory measure he fostered and encouraged the jealousies 
of the feudatories of O'Nial, particularly Calvagh, of Tyrconnel, and 
Maguire, of Fermanagh, who were rejoiced to have a chance of shak- 
ing off their dependence on that chief. Between the seignior and his 
feudatories discord almost always prevails, carried to a greater or less 
extent in proportion to the chance of resistance on the part of the latter. 
The enforcement of just claims by the former is regarded as oppres- 
sion and exaction by the latter ; and tlie resistance of undue claims 
by the feudatory as a ^ort of treason by the seignior. When an artful 
politician is at hand to fan the embers, flames never fail to break out.* 

* " Sydney knew the most effectual method of reducing the northern chieftain, 
and pursued it with vigour and address. It had been his first care to engage the 
northern Irish, who had been injured by O'Nial, firmly to the interests of the crown. 
He conferred with Calvagh of Tyrconnel ; reinstated him in full possession of his 
territory ; and so wrought upon him by courtesy, that he acknowledged the queen 
his rightful mistress, and sovereign of Ireland, in all causes ecclesiastical and tempo- 
ral ; promised due obedience to her deputy ; engaged, that if it should please her ma- 
jesty at any time, to change the customs of his country, and to govern it by her 
laws ; or to confer a title of honour on him, or any of his people, he would assist 
and co-operate with her gracious intentions ; but above all, he bound himself to op- 
pose the rebel John O'Nial with all his powers. In like manner he restored Ma- 
guire, Loi'd of Fermanagh, to his territory, and engaged him in the service of the 
queen, with several of the Irish lords of CJonnaught. Thus did Sydney raise up a 
number of neighbouring enemies against John O'Nial, provoked by his injuries, and 
ever ready to seize the occasion of infesting him ; while he himself took his station 
on the northern borders with a considerable force." — Leland, II. 284. 



70 VINDICI^ HIBERNia^. 

In addition to these preparatory measures, he built a fortress atDerry 
as a bridle on O'Nial, where he placed a garrison under the command 
of Randolph, an English officer of reputation. 

When all these arrangements were completed, the nobility were 
easily instigated to make their "complaints," as Sir James Ware 
states ; and the determination to " root him out,'''' long since formed 
and resolved on, was announced. The lord lieutenant Sussex, who 
preceded Sydney, had received instructions from Elizabeth's council, 
among the items, " To reduce Shane O^ Nial by force or otherwise.''^ \ 
" Otherwise" is here a word of great latitude — It implies " Flectere si 
nequeo superos, Jlcheronta movebo.'" 

The object must be accomplished by force or fraud — by fair means 
or foul. Doubtless Sydney had the same instructions — and fatally for 
O'Nial, he strictly obeyed them. 

Hostilities began at Derry. Randolph, wholly unprovoked, made an 
irruption into the territories of O'Nial, in which he slaughtered num- 
bers, but deservedly lost his life for his wanton aggression.* 

This affair is otherwise narrated in nearly all the histories. They 
state that O'Nial assembled a body of troops near Derry in a bravado, 
and that Randolph, irritated, made a sally out on them. The object is 
to cast on Nial the odium of the aggression. But this statement is un- 
warranted. The irruption was made in consequence of the instigated 
^'■complaints of the nobility,'''' on which this war of extermination was 
commenced. 

O'Nial finding his fidelity unavailing to secure him from the hostility 
of the Irish government, entered on the war with a degree of vigour 
suitable to the energy of his character. He soon overran the territo- 
ries of Maguire, and made a brave defence against the combined forces 
of the government and his former dependants, now arrayed in hostility 
against him. For a time he was tolerably successful — but finally all 
his talents and his energies were unavailing — his enemies were too 
numerous and powerful ; he was defeated in every quarter ; and re- 
duced to such a very low ebb, that he was on the point of throwing him- 
self on the mercy of the lord deputy and suing for pardon. From this 
measure he was dissuaded by his secretary, by whose advice he went 
to solicit aid from a party of Scotch invaders who had a camp at 
Clandeboy, in the hope that, although there had been hostilities be- 
tween him and them, they would be willing to unite with him against 
the common enemy, the English. 

In this attempt he was defeated and lost his life. Piers, an English 
spy, in the pay of the lord deputy, eagerly availed himself of the op- 
portunity to lay a snare for the formidable enemy of the Irish govern- 
ment, whose name, even in his fallen fortunes, was still an object of 
dread. He bribed some of the Scotch to commence an altercation with 
O'Nial's secretary, which, with some address and management, was 
worked up into an affray wherein the Scotch butchered the chief and 
all his followers. Piers cut off his head, and sent it to the deputy, 
who had it stuck on a pole, on the top of the castle of Dublin, and 

* "Randolph, more spirited than cautious, issued out against a party of his 
[O'Nial's] boisterous followers, ami repelled them with considerable slaughter — but 
lost his life in the encounter. This action vms not justified by any direct hostili- 
ties committed by 0'J\'ial — and therefore afforded him a fair subject of complaint.^* 
— Lelaup, II. 282. 

t Cox, 315. 



CHAPTER III. 71 

paid the spy one thousand marks as a reward for this honourable 
service ! ! — Leland, II. 287. 

In consequence, an act of attainder was passed, by which O'Nial'g 
estate was confiscated, and his name extinguished. The details of this 
act, one of the most extraordinary specimens of legislation extant, be- 
long to the seventh chapter, devoted to the developement of the frauds 
and corruption practised in the election of members of the Irish Par- 
liament. 

The extent of the forfeited lands was enormous — being, according to 
Sir John Davies, more than half the province of Ulster.* 

Of the extreme inaccuracy and misrepresentation of the English 
histories of Irish affairs, the instances are numberless, as have appear- 
ed and will appear throughout this Vindication. The rule of those 
who administered the government of Ireland, was to blacken and de- 
fame, and to render odious and contemptible, as far as in their power, 
those whom they had destroyed, or determined to destroy. 

O'Nial affords a strong exemplification. This nobleman, who had 
amazed Sydney and his council with his powers and his eloquence, 
and, what is more remarkable and striking, who, in spile of the preju- 
dices existing at the court of Elizabeth against the Irish in general, 
and himself in particular, ingratiated himself by his address and talents, 
into her favour and that of her ministers, is represented by most of the 
English writers as a mere brute and savage, destitute of humanity and 
cultivation. Among the absurd tales fabricated against him, one was, 
that he hung one of his followers for eating English bread! ! Ano- 
ther, that he was lost in habits of the most beastly intemperance. f 

There is haidly the shadow of a doubt that both these stories are 
utterly destitute of foundation. They are belied by the whole tenor of 
his history. Campion states a trait of his daily conduct, which dis- 
plays humanity and religious feeling, not very consistent with the tales 
narrated of him by his enemies — " Sitting at meate, before he put one 
morsel into his mouth, he used to slice a portion above the dayly 
almes, and send it, namely, to some begger at his gate, saying, it was 
meete to serve Christ first.":!: This is not the act of such a deplorable 
wretch as he has been pourtrayed. The idea of putting one of his 
followers to death for eating English bread is too farcical, and is a 
mere nursery tale. Let it be observed that while Leland and other 
writers state that he hung only one of his followers — Camden extends 
the story to the plural number — "7/e strangled some of his own men 
for that they fed on English bread." — Camden, 105. 

* " To augment the king's revenue, in the same parhament, upon the attainder 
of Shane O'Nial, he resumed and vested in the cro-wn more than half the province 
of Ulster.'' — Davies, 188. 

f " Albeit he had most commonlie two hundred tunnes of wines in his cellar at 
Dundrum, and had his full fill thereof, yet was he never satisfied till he had swal- 
lowed vp maruellous great quantities of vsquebagh, or aqua vitae, of that countrie ; 
whereof so vnmeasurablie he would drinke and bouse, that /or the quenching of the 
heat of the bodie, which by that meanes was most extremelie inflamed, and distem- 
pered, he was eft soones conueid, as the common report was, into a deep pit .'! and 
standing -upright in the same, the earth -was cast round about him, up to the hard 
cldn, and there he did remaine vntill such time as his body ivas recouered to some 
temperature .'.' by which meanes, though he came after in some better plight, yet 
his manners and conditions became daily worse ! ! ! " — Hollinshed, VI. 331. 

I Campion, 189. 



72 VINDICLE HIBERNIC.E. 



CHAPTER IV. 

JVide-spread desolation and conjlagralion of houses, villages and 
towns. Insatiable rapacity. Ruthless ferocity. Indiscriminate 
slaughter of men, women, and children, ivithout distinction of 
age, sex, or condition. 

" His realm a slmiglUer-housc — his subjects slain." 

SnAKSPEAHE. 

"No age was spared ; no sex, na)^, no degree; 
Not infants in the porch of life were free ; 
The sick, the old, who could but hope a day 
Longer by nature's bounty, not let stay. 
Virgins and widows, matrons, and pregnant wives, 
All died. 'Twas crime enough that they had hves. 
To strike but only those who could do hurt, 
Was dull and poor-." — B. Jonsojt. 

The unanimous voice of Europe has justly stamped the name of 
Louis .XIV. with infamy for the barbarous and brutal desolation of the 
Palatinate, where lire and sword made horrible devastation in a flour- 
ishing and populous country. From this hideous stain, the herd of 
pensioned flatterers, as well those who surrounded his throne, as those 
whose adulation was purchased abroad by his treasury, have in vain 
attempted to exculpate him. To the end of time it will adhere to his 
memory. This, however, is for one palatinate war, and the destruc- 
tion of a small territory. Ireland exhibited a palatinate war" in one 
quarter or other, almost incessantly for centuries, and the same brand 
must eternally attach to the administrators ©f the government, and the 
commanders of the English armies there. Their murderous and deso- 
lating system of warfare against the ill-fated Irish, during the period 
embraced in this portion of the present work, has iew parallels in his- 
tory, except among the most ferocious of mankind. Allowing for the 
scale of operations, these commanders may fairly vie with Attila, 
Genghis Khan, Bajazet, or Barbarossa, so far as the narrow limits of 
the island permitted. They were actuated by a perfectly congenial 
spirit, and deserve a conspicuous place in the annals of desolation, in 
company with those destroyers of mankind. Altila, or any devastator 
more fell than Attila, could do no more in the utmost exercise of fero- 
city, than' burn whole towns and villages — destroy the fruits of the 
earth, for the express purpose of producing famine and pestilence — 
and slaughter indiscriminately, men, women, and children. ■ Such 
were the exploits that signalized the career of the armies of the Irish 
government. No tiger or hyeena was ever devoured with a more ra- 
venous thirst of blood. Wherever their power extended, during what 
they styled insurrection or rebellion, fire and sword consumed every 
thing — and " nothing teas spared which f re and sivord coidd consume.^'' 
[Hooker, apud Hollinshed, VI. 423.] These are the words of one of 
their own historians, in relation to the Desmond war; but they apply 
to most of their other wars with equal force. Illustrious men, whose 



CHAPTER IV. 73 

heroisnij public spirit, zeal, and ardour, in the glorious cause of the 
liberty of their country, entitle them to rank with Epaminondas, Pelo- 
pidas, Alfred, Gustavus Vasa, the prince of Orange, or Washington, 
were infamously devoted to an ignominious death by the hands of the 
common hangman, cut down alive, embowelled and quartered — and 
their estates confiscated with as little regard to honour, honesty or jus- 
tice, as ever was displayed by Blackbeard, the pirate. 

This is a tremendous picture, and, provided its correctness can be 
established, is enough to make the hair of one's head to stand on end — 
to excite the most deep-rooted abhorrence of the perpetrators — and 
an equally deep-rooted sympathy for the sufferers. To produce these 
effects, all that is necessary, is to establish the fidelity of the portrait 
by such evidence as will preclude doubt or denial. This melancholy 
task I undertake. I require credit for no fact, unless it rest on the au- 
thority of the perpetrators themselves, or their own historians. I disclaim 
—a plan unexampled — all the testimony of the sufferers or their 
friends. 

From the contents of this chapter it will appear clearly, that for 
centuries, Ireland was a great human slaughter-house, and that the 
land was literally flowing with blood.* The murder of every human 

* "And as they went, they drove the whole country before them unto the ventrie, 
and by that means they preyed and took all the cattle in the country, to the number 
of eight thousand kine, besides horses, garrons, sheep, and goats : and all such 
people as they met, they did tvithoitt mercy put to the sivord ; by these means, the 
whole country having no cattle nor kine left, they were driven to such extremities, 
that for loajit of victuals they -were either to die and perish for famine, or to die 
under the stvord! ! .'" — Hollinshed, VI. 427. 

" The soldiers, likewise, in the camp, were so hot upon the spur, and so eager 
upon the vile rebels, that that day they spared neither man, tvoman 7ior child .' .' ! 
but all -was committed to the siDord ! ! .'" — Hollinshi;d, VI. 430. 

" On the fourteenth day of June the lord justice invaded and destroyed Clanaw- 
left, and thence marched through Sleulogher to Kerry, and on the fifteenth took a 
prey of one thousand kine and many sheep." — Cox, 356. 

" Th« governor of Carricfergus, sir Arthur Chichester, issued from his quarters, 
andyb?' twenty miles round reduced the country to a desert. Sir Samuel Bagnal, 
■with the garrison of JK'ervry, proceeded -with the same severity, and laid tvaste all 
the adjacent lands. Ml the English garrisons -were daily employed in pillaging 
and wasting /.'" — Lelan n, II. 453. 

" By reason of the continuall persecuting of the rebels, who could have no breath 
nor rest to releeve themselves, but were alwaies by one garrison or other hurt and 
pursued ; and by reason tlie harvest was taken from them, their cattels in great 
numbers preied from them, and the whole countrie spoiled and preied : the poore 
people, who lined onelie upon their labors, and fed by their milch cowes, were so 
distressed, that they would follow after the goods which were thus taken from them, 
and o^er themselves, their -wives, and children, rather to be slaine by the armie, 
than to suffer the famine -where-ivith they were now pinched f .'" — Hollinshed, 
VI. 433. 

1510. "They marched into Desmond without opiiosition, biirning and spoiling 
all as they -went!.'" — Cox, 201. 

1521. " Surry left a garrison there, and burnt the country till the twenty-third of 
July!!"— -Co^, 211. 

1530. " Having preyed the country, he returned with these happy first-fruits of 
Ids government ! !" — Cox, 222. 

1538. " Thereupon the deputy marched against Savage, a degenerate English- 
man, into Ards and Lecale, and there he took Mac Genis his castle of Dundrum, 
and seven castles more, and wasted and preyed all that country ; and, which was 

10 



74 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 

being, without regard to age, sex, or condition — the conflagration of 
every species of building — and the destruction of every thing calculated 
to minister to the sustenance of man or beast, for ten, twenty, or thirty 
miles, was an almost every day occurrence, narrated with as much 

worse, he burnt the cathedral church of Doivne, and defaced the monuments of the 
saints, Patrick, Bridget, and Columbus, and committed many other sacrileges .'" 
—Cox, 255, 

1557. " The lord deputy on the twenty-fifth took a prey, and came to Armagh, 
the rebels still flying befora him ; on the twenty-seventh he burnt Armagh, except 
the church." — Cox, 305, 

1600. " Captain Flower was sent into Carbry with 1200 foot, and 100 horse, and 
burnt and preyed as far as Ross .'" — Cox, 425. 

1600. " On the 28th of May, the president entered ClanwilUam, and John Burk 
refused to submit personally, pretending that his priests taught him that it was a 
mortal sin so to doe. The president disdaining that frivolous answer, the next day 
burnt and destroyed his houses, corii and country ! ! and then on the 30th of May, 
Burk came and submitted." — Cox, 426. 

1600. "The president sent Maurice Stack, with 50 men to Kerry, where he sur- 
prized Liscaghan castle, burnt Adare, and preyed the cou7itry .'" — Cox, 429. 

" The sdime da.y fftie-eighi ■were executed in the inarket place !" — Pacata Hi- 
bernia, 574. 

" The earle of Clanricard had many faire escapes, being shot through his gar- 
ments, and no man did bloody his eword more than his lordship did that day, and 
■would not suffer any man to take ariy of the Irish prisoners, but bade them kill 
the rebels .'" — Idem, 42 1 . 

" Whome though until hir majesties pleasure knowne he did forbeare, yet the re- 
sidue he spared not : but after their deserts, he executed in infnit numbers" — 
HOLLINSHEI), VI. 370. 

" The president, therefore, aswell to debarre these straglers from releefe, as to 
prevent all meanes of succours to Osulevan, if hee should returne with new forces, 
caused all the coxinty of Kerry and Desmond, Beare, Bantry, and Carbery, to be 
left absolutely -wasted" — Pacata Hibemia, 680. 

" They passed the next morning over the bridge of Adare, and by the waie, they 
burned and spoiled the countrie," — Hollinshed, VI. 429. 

" On the first of May, Capt. Taaf took a prey of 300 cows, and many sheep, and 
on the second, Capt. John Barry brought in another prey of 500 cows, 300 sheep, 
and 300 garrons ; and on the 8th, 300 men were in the night sent to Artully to 
meet sir Charles Wilniott's forces, and to conduct them to the camp ; which was 
eflfected to the great grief of the rebels, and a prey of 4000 cows was taken in Ive- 
ragh."— Cox, 450. 

" Upon the fifth of May hee secretly dispatched a partie of men, which burnt 
and spoyled all the covntrey, and returned with foure thozisand co-wes, besides 
theepe and garrons." — Pacata Hibemia, 538. 

" The lord justice marched a few miles in Mac Aulies countrie, spoiling, defacing, 
and burning the same." — Hollinshed, VI. 432. 

" On the 31st of October, the English took a prey of 2000 sheep, and 1000 gar- 
rons, from O'Sullivan and the Irish, who fought very smartly for their cattel, so that 
many were slain on either side." — Cox, 453. 

" They tooke also from thence certaine cowes and sheepe, which were reserved 
there as in a sure storehouse, and put the churles to the sxvord that inhabited there- 
in." — Pacata Hibernia, 659. 

" Great were the services which these garrisons performed: for sir Richard Pierce 
and captain George Flower, with their troopes, left neither corn nor home, nor 
house unburnt, bet-ween Kinsale and Ross. Captain Roger Harvie, who had with 
him his brother, captain Gawen Harvie, captain Francis SHngsbie, captain William 
Stafford, and also the companies of the Lord Barry and the treasurer, with the Pre- 
sident's horse, did the like bettveen Ross and Ba?itry." — Idem, 645. 

" Some were slain of the lord governor's men, though not so many, amongst 
whom captain Zouche's trumpeter was one ; which so grieved the lord general that 



CHAPTER IV. 75 

sang froid, as a party of Cherokees would detail their incendiary and 
tomahawking incursions against neighbouring savages. 

Next to the indiscriminate slaughter of the people, and conflagration 
of property, the most remarkable feature of the warfare against the 

he commanded all the houses, toions, and villages, in that cou7itry, and about Le- 
Jinnen, which in any way did belong to the earl of Desmond, or of any of his friends 
and followers, to be burned and spoiled !! !" — Hollinshed, VI. 425. 

" Hereupon Sir Charles, with the English regiments, overran all Beare and Ban- 
try, destroying all that they could find meet for the relief of men, so as that coun- 
try was wholly wasted.'.'.'" — Pacata Hibernia, 659. 

" The next daie following being the twelfe of March, the lord justice and the earle 
di\dded their armie into two several companies by two ensigns and three together, 
the lord justice taking the one side, and the other taking the other side of Slew- 
lougher, and so they searched the -woods, burfied the towne, and killed that daie 
about foure Mindved 7nen, and returned the same night with all the cattell which 
they found that daie'.'.! 

" And the said lords, being not satisfied with this daie's service .'.' they did like- 
wise the next daie divide themselves, spoiled aud consumed the whole countrie until 
it was night ! ! ! ! !" — Hollinshed, VI. 430. 

" They passed over the same into Conilo, where the lord justice and the earl of 
Ormond divided their companies, and as they marched, they burned and destroyed 
the country." — Ibid. 

" He divided his companies into foure parts, and they entered into foure severall 
places of the wood at one instant ; and by that meanes they scowred the wood 
throughout, in killing as mannie as they tooke, but the residue fled into the moun- 
tains." — Hollinshed, VI. 452. 

" There were some of the Irish taken prisoners, that offered great ransomes ; but 
presently upon their bringing to the campe, they were hanged." — Pacata Hibernia, 
421. 

" Then dividing into three parts marched to Dingle, and as they went, they drove 
the whole country before them, whereby they took a prey of eight thousand cows, 
besides garrons, sheep, &c. and slew a great many people, and had slain more but 
that sir William Winter gave many of them protections." — Cox, 366. 

" One hundred and forty of his gallow-glasses had the misfortune to be intercepted 
and made prisoners ; and as intelligence was received that the rebels advanced and 
prepared to give battle, Skeffington, with a barbarous precaution, ordered these 
•wretches to be slaughtered ; an order so effectually executed, that but one of all 
the number escaped the carnage." — Leland, II. 181. 

" Capteine Macworth recouvered the possession of the whole, and didputfiftie 
to the sword, of which nineteene were found to be Spaniards : and six- others he 
tooke, whereof one was a womaji, which were executed in the campe '. None 
were saved that daie but onelie the capteine Julio, whom the lord justice kept for 
certeine considerations two or three dales : but in the end he was hanged as the 
rest were before him." — Hollinshed, VI. 431. 

"Sir Charles Wilmot with his regiment was sent againe into Kerry, (which 
countrey having therein great store of corne and cattle, would otherwise haue beene 
left open to the rebels reliefe,) with direction to remoue all the inhabitants with 
their goods and cattle, over the mountaine into the small county of Limerick, and 
such corne as could not be presently reaped and convaied, (as aforesaid,) hee wat 
commanded to burne and spoyle the same." — Pacata Hibernia, 582. 

" From this he tooke his journie towards Corke, and in his waie at Drunfening he 
tooke a preie of one thousand five hundred kine or cowes, which were all driven 
and sent unto Corke." — Hollinshed, VI. 425. 

" When after great trauels they had manielouslie wasted and spoiled the coun- 
trie, they appointed to march to Carigofoile, and to laie siege to the same." — Hol- 
linshed, VI. 430. 

" They wasted and forraged the countrey, so as in a small time it was not able 
to giue the rebels any reliefe .' having spoiled and brought into their garrisons 
the most part of their corne, being newly reaped." — Pacata Hibernia, 584. 

1600. " On the 1 2th of August, Mountjoy with 560 foot, and 60 horse, and some 



76 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE. 

Irish, was the plunder of cattle wherever the English armies came. 
Every cow or horse, or sheep they met with, no matter to whom be- 
longing, was legitimately seized, and swept away as spolia opima. 
Hundreds of thousands are to be found stated in the histories, thus 
plundered by the marauding parties that were let loose in every quar- 
ter of the country for rapine and slaughter. 

The garrison of Smerwick, in the county of Kerry, consisting of 
seven or eight hundred men, chiefly Italians, was besieged by the lord 
deputy Arthur Grey, anno 1579, and after a short resistance, offered 
to capitulate. Terms being inexorably refused, they were constrained 
to surrender on mercy. Except the officers and the Irish, the latter of 
whom were reserved for an ignominious death on the gallows, they 
were all infamously butchered in cold blood. To Walter Raleigh, on 
whose chivalrous spirit so much applause has been absurdly lavished, 
was committed the perpetration of ihis murderous deed.* 

A loud cry of indignation was raised on the continent at this barbarity. 
Elizabeth, ashamed of the atrocity, and desirous to exculpate herself 
from any connivance at, or participation in, the guilt, expressed the 
strongest disapprobation of the conduct of the deputy, who, in palliation, 
asserted that the prisoners were nearly as numerous as his own army 

voluntiers, marcht to Naas, and thence to Philipstown, and in his way took a prey 
of 200 cows, 700 garrons, and 500 sheep, and so burning the comitry .'" — Cox, 
438. 

1600. "Sir Arthur Savage, governour of Connagh, designed to meet the lord 
lieutenant, but could not accompUsh it, though he preyed and spoWd the country, as 
far as he came .'" — Ibid. 

1 600. " Mountjoy staid in this country till the 23d of August, and destroyed 10,000^. 
■worth of corn, and sleiv more or less of the rebels every day ! One Lenagh, a no- 
torious rebel, was taken and hang'd, and a prey of 1000 cows, 500 garrons, and 
many sheep, was taken by sir Oliver Lambert, in Daniel Spany's countrey, with tfie 
slaughter of a great many rebels .'" — Ibid. 

1601. "Then he wasted Sleugh-Art, a little country in Tir-Oen, full of woods 
and bogs, about ffteen miles long .'" — Cambkn, 638. 

1601. "It was not long before he did invade Macduff's country, and took a prey 
of 1000 cows, and burnt -what he could not carry aivay." — Cox, 436. 

1601. " The deputy sent out sir Henry Danvers with 300 foot to burn about 20 
houses, which he effected." — Cox, 439, 

" The Leinster rebels, by driving the royalists into their fortified towns, and living 
long without molestation, had cultivated their lands and established an unusual re- 
gularity and plenty in their districts. But Jiow they -were exposed to the most rue- 
ful havock from the queeri's forces. The soldiers, encouraged by the example of 
their officers, every -where cut doivn the standing corn -with their swords, and de- 
vised every means to deprive the -wretched inhabitants of all the necessaries of 
life .'"—Lej^ajh), II. 453. 

" There was taken from them in that dayes service, 2000 cowes, 4000 sheepe, 
and 1000 garrons." — Pacata Ilibernia, 656. 

" Wee got the amies of 100 and fourtie, and all their horses, cowes, sheepe and 
garrons, that were in the country neere adjoyning." — Idem, 662. 

* " That mercy, for which they sued, was rigidly denied to them. Wingfield 
was commissioned to disarm them, and when this service was performed, an Eng- 
lish company was sent into the fort. The Irish rebels found there, were reserved 
for execution by martial law. The Italian general and some officers were made 
prisoners of war ; but the garrison was butchered iii cold blood ; nor is it without 
pain that we find a service so horrid and detestable committed to sir Walter Jici- 
(eigh." — Leland, II. 343. 



CHAPTER IV. 77 

1 — that a body of Irish was approaching — and- that self-defence obliged 
him to pursue the sanguinary course he had adopted.* 

It" the pleas of criminals were to be allowed to pass current, there 
never was a crime which would not be obliterated from the records of 
justice. The most atrocious deeds would be not merely palliated, but 
proved entitled to applause. Gray's apology will not stand the test of 
a moment's inquiry, as will appear from the sanguinary career uniformly 
pursued at this period by this very deputy and the other English officers, 
in cases where there was not a shadow of a pretext to justify their 
barbarity. 

A case in point, to establish thi^ position, occurred a very few years 
after, with respect .to certain Spaniards, who were wrecked on the coast 
of Ireland, and who took refuge in some caves, from whence they were 
drawn out, and in the same murderous spirit, as dictated the massacre 
of the gariison of Smerwick, twohundredof them were cruelly beheaded. 
Here there was not the slightest plea of danger from the extension of 
mercy. f 

Among the odious features of the horrible warfare waged in Ireland, 
the following may claim a conspicuous place. Whenever the Irish 
were pursued, and endeavoui-ed to escape the swords of their enemies, 
any of their countrymen, to whom they fled for safety, or who, from 
motives of humanity, afforded them shelter, were doomed to destruc- 
tion — their houses were burned, and themselves and families extermi- 
nated. J 

A castle was besieged on the sea coast. The officer who commanded 
the besiegers, thirsting after the blood of the ill-fated wretches, and 
fearful lest any of the victims with whom he desired to glut his ven- 
geance, should escape by sea, placed some boats to intercept them, by 
the crews of which they were slaughtered. § 

—•»►♦© © e+t«— 

* " The queen wished it had not been done, detesting from her heart such cruelty, 
though necessary, against persons who had yielded themselves ; and hardly did she 
allow of the reasons for the slaughter committed," — Camden, 243. 

-j- " The deputy sent Fowl, deputy-marshal, who drew them out of their lurking- 
holes and hiding-places, and beheaded about two hundred of them. This carriage 
the queen condemned from her heart, as savouring of too great cruelty." — Camden, 
417. 

■i " The president having received certaine information, that the Mounster fugitives 
were harbored in those parts, having' before burned all the houses and come, and 
taken great preyes in Owny Omulrian, and Kilquig, a strong and fast countrey, not 
farre from Limerick, diverted his forces into East Clanwilliam and Muskry-quirke, 
where Pierce Lacy had lately beene succoured, and harassing the coimtrey, killed 
all mankind that ~ivere found therein, for a terrour to those as shoiild giue reliefs to 
runnagate traitors.' ! thence ive came iiito Arleghe woods, ivhere ivee did the like, 
not leaving behind lis man or beast, come or cattle, except such as had been con- 
veied into castles ! .'" — Pacata Hibernia, 1 89. 

1600. " About the 18th of December, Sir Francis Barkley having notice that many 
rebels were relieved in Clanawly, marcht thither ^\\A got a prey of 1000 cows, 200 
garrojis, many sheep, and other booty, and had the killing of many traytors." — 
Cox, 434. 

§ " Some fourtie of them made a sally out of the castle to the sea side, whither our 
men pursuing them on the one side, and they being crest by Captaine Blundell with 
a small party of men, (on the outside of the barbicon,) on the other side, wee had 
the execution of them all there, (saving eight which leapt into the sea to save them- 
selves by swimming.) But the lord president supposing before that they would in 
their extremity make such an adventure to escape, had appoynted Captaine Gawen 



78 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 

Another castle was besieged by the sanguinary Charles Wilmot, and 
Undermined so far as to be on the point of being blown up. The garrison, 
who had bravely defended themselves for three weeks, were finally 
obliged to surrender, and begged for mercy on their knees. Their 
heroism would have secured favour and pardon from any enemy 
possessed of a single spark of generosity. But their supplications 
were as ineffectual with Wilmot, as the bleatings of an innocent lamb 
with a ravenous wolf. They were all hanged.* 

Massacre was the daily and nightly sport of the English officers. 
Mercy formed no part of their creed. The sleeping, sick, wounded, 
and dying, were legitimate food for their swords, f 

Several women prisoners were actually burned aljve. I am not abl» 
to refer to the pages of history in which the facts are stated, having 
lost my memoranda. But I pledge myself for their authenticity. The 
interference of the queen rescued a heroine of the name of Rhise from 
the flames.:}: 

The ruthless fury of the English officers and soldiery, it was impos- 
sible to escape, even by most abject submission. § The offers of the 
Irish to surrender, and their supplications for mercy were spurned, 
and themselves devoted to feel the edge of the sword. Extermination 
was the order of the day. The shallow pretence was that those who 
had not entered into insurrection, only waited for an opportunity. 

The fact stated in the annexed note, is no otherwise connected with 

Harvie, and his lieutenant Thomas Stafford, with three boats to keepe the sea, -who 
had the killing of them all; other three leapt from the top of the vault, -where our 
souldiers killed them .'" — Pacata Hibernia, 571. 

* " The foundation of the castle was undermined, as farre as the middest of the 
seller, which the ward perceiving, made humble to bee permitted to depart with their 
liues, which Sir Charles absolutely refused : but if they would simply render them- 
selues, the castle and all things in it to his discretion, hee would then stay further 
proceeding in his worke, otherwise they might looke within very few bowers to bee 
blowen up. The ward, which were eighteene in number, came forth, and upon their 
knees submitted themselues unto him, whom hee caused to be apprehended ; the 
women and small children he suffered to depart ; of the rveaponed men he hanged 
nine, so many of ours being lost at the seige, which continued more than three 
weekes, the residue hee detained, untill he had acquainted the president with all these 
accidents, who gatie present order for the execution of the rest." — Pacata Hibernia, 
175. 

f " The capteine breaking time with them, made stale in the wood accordinglie ; 
and in the afternoon he learned by his espials, that they were returned from the 
raounteins, and were entered into their cabins, where some of them -were asleepe, 
and some of them occupied in dressing of a horse for to eat, for other vittels ivere 
scant. The capteine suddenlie entered upon them, and tooke them at such advan- 
tage, that they -were all for the most part put to the sxvord: of which five and twentie 
were taken in their cabins." — HoLLiNSHEn, VI. 452. 

"The next morning being the fourth of January, 1602, Sir Charles coming to 
seeke the enemy in their campe, hee entered into their quarter without resistance, 
where hee found nothing but hurt and sicke men, tuhose paiiies and lives by the 
souldiers ivere both deternmied ! ! .'" — Pacata Hibernia, 659. 

:t: 1594. " They also took Feagh's wife, Rhise, a woman of a manly courage and 
spirit above that of her sex, ivho, for a lerrour to others, ivas adjudged to be burnt ; 
but, by the queen's mercy, her life was spared." — Camden, 494. 

§ 1 600. " Many of the rebels offered to submit, which was the less regarded, 
because it -was known that even those that had not yet entered into rebellion, ii'ere 
hindered more by a sense of their danger, than their duty ; and that they -waited 
only for a safe opportunity to declare themselves." — Cox, 424. 



CHAPTER IV. 79 

the subject of this chapter, than as it displays the light value set upon 
human life in Ireland, even in the cabinet — less, undoubtedly, than 
men of humanity set upon the lives of favourite dogs, cats, parrots, or 
monkeys.* 

Duly to estimate the ruthless barbarity which dictated this sanguinary 
plan, it would be necessary to ascertain the number of the victims thus 
devoted to destruction. It is not at all improbable that the bards, monks, 
friars, nuns, Jesuits, &c. &c. amounted to several thousands, who were 
thus, " at one fell swoop," to be hurled into eternity, by " marshal law." 
The recommendation is given with as much calmness and indifference, 
as if the question were about the extermination of a race of foxes and 
wolves. 

* Sir John Perrot has been highly eulogized as an excellent deputy by various 
writers, and among others by Leland. How far he merited this commendation, will 
appear from the following item in the plan of government he drew up for Ireland, 
addressed and recommended to Queen Elizabeth. 

" That all brehons, carraghes, bardes, and rijmers that infect the people, friars, 
monks, Jesuites, pardoners, nunns, and snch like, that openly seeke the maintenance 
of papacy, a traytorous kinde of people, the bellowes to blow the coals of all mis- 
chiefe and rebellion, and fit spies of anti-christ, whose kingdom they greedily expect 
to be restored, be executed by marshal law, and their favourers and maintainers 
by due course oflaiv, to be tryed and executed as in cases of treasoti." — Pebrot, 
xxiv. 



80 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC.E. 



CHAPTER V. 

S.wful scenes of misery and wretchedness. Dreadful famine. Human 
carcasses devoured. Spencefs ruthless project for exterminating 
the natives by famine and pestilence. 

" Famine so fierce, that what's cleny'd man's use, ' 

E'en deadly plants, and herbs of poisonous juice, 
Wild Hunger eats : and to prolong our breath. 
We greedily devour our certain death." — Drtden. 

" Death, like a lazy master, stands aloof, 
And leaves his work to the slow hands of Famine," — Idem. 

The preceding chapter presents a heartrending view of the barbarous 
system of warfare pursued against the Irish, and their dreadful suffer- 
ings during its continuance. I have reserved for the present very brief 
one, a sketch of the awful consequences of that system. Tremendous 
as were the former, they were incomparably exceeded by the latter. 
The world has never witnessed — nor indeed is it possible to conceive 
of more intense wretchedness and misery than were endured in Ireland, 
when furious War, wearied with slaughter, gave place to what was 
called Peace, particularly in Munster, after the Desmond war. To 
what a horrible extent iiaust human suffering have gone, when, to 
appease the ravenous calls of hunger, a wretched people were driven 
to the dire necessity of feeding on grass and other herbage — when, 
worse, far worse, they devoured horses, dogs, dead carrion, and even 
human carcasses ! — and, to cap the climax, when they lay in wait for 
and murdered children, to prolong their wretched existence !* 

—■>►»©©*+"•— 

* " Because I have often made mention formerly, of oi/r destroying the rebels cor7i, 
and using all means to famish them, let me now by two or three examples, shew 
the miserable estate to which they were thereby reduced. 

" Some old women about the Newry, used to make a fire in the fields, and divers 
little children driving out the cattle in the cold mornings, and coming thither to 
warm themselves, tvere by these -women s^irprized, killed, and eaten ; which was 
at last discovered by a great girl, breaking from them by the strength of her body ; 
and Captain Trevor sending out soldiers to know the truth, they found the cJdldrens* 
skrills and bones, and apprehended the old women, who were executed for the fact. No 
spectacle was more frequent in the ditches of towns, and especially in wasted coun- 
tries, than to see iJiidtitudes of these poor people dead, loith their mouths all coloured 
green by eating nettles, docks, and all things they could rend up above ground." 
— MonrsoN, apud Ccrrt, I. 49. 

" The miseries which the wretched Irish endured, from the vicinity of the royal 
forces, which prevented them from seeking any means of subsistence, were afflicting 
to the humanity even of their enemies. Thoiisands perished by famine; a7idevery 
road and district ivas encumbered by their tuiburied carcasses. The hideous 
resources sought for allaying the rage of hunger, -were more terrible even than 
such desolation." — Leland, II. 487. 

" They performed that service eflectually, and brought the rebels to so low a 
condition, that they saiu three children eating the entrails of their dead mother 
upon whose flesh they had fed twenty days, and roasted it by a slow fire ; and it 



CHAPTER V. 81 

Surely, if there be " a chosen curse in the stores of heaven to blast" 
pre-eminent wickedness, it should have fallen " with uncommon wrath" 
on the wretches who produced such a hideous state of things. 

It will be acknowledged, on a perusal of the preceding pages, that 
human nature never appeared under a more hideous aspect — no where 
did it approach nearer to the demoniac. Exulting fiends might regard 
with rapture the prowess of the Greys, the Mountjoys, the Wilmots, 
the St. Legers, &c., who fully proved themselves worthy of adoption 
among the tenants of Pandemonium. If any thing could enhance our 
abhorrence of their atrocious deeds, it would be the consideration of 
the pretexts on which those extenninating wars were declared, which, 
in nine cases out of ten, were of the most miserable and insignificant 
character. In almost every instance, moreover, the officers of the 
Irish government were obviously the wanton aggressors, and goaded 
the wretched Irish into a resistance, which was visited with such 
horrible chastisement. 

— •«»e©»M"— 

was manifest, that some older people had been in that starving- condition, that 
they murdered and eat children for a I'jiig- time together, and were at last discovered 
and executed for that barbarity. In short, the famine of Jerusalem did not exceed 
that amongst the rebels of Ireland.^'' — Cox, 449. 

" And as for the great companies of soldiers, gallow-glasses, kerne, and the common 
people, who followed this rebellion, the numbers of them are infinite, whose bloods 
the earth drank up, and ivhose carcasses the fowls of the air and the ravening 
beasts of the f eld did consume and devour. After this followed an extreme famine : 
and such xuhom the sivord did not destroy, the same did consume and eat out ; 
very few or none remaining alive, excepting such as were fled over into England ; 
and yet the store in the towns was far spent, and they in distress, albeit nothing like 
in comparison to them who lived at large ; for they xvere not only driven to eat 
horses, dogs, a7id dead carrions ; but also did devour the carcasses of dead me?i, 
whereof there be sundry examples ; namely, one in the county of Cork, where, when 
a malefactor was executed to death, and his body left upon the gallows, certain, 
poor people did secretly come, took him down, and did eat him ; likewise in the 
bay of Smeereweeke, or St. Marieweeke, the place which was first seasoned with 
this rebellion, there happened to be a ship to be there lost, through foul weather, and 
all the men being drowned, were there cast on land. 

" The common people, who had a long time lived on limpets, orewads, and such 
shell-fish as they could find, and which were now spent; as soon as they saw these 
bodies, they took them up, and most greedily did eat and devoure them: and not 
long after, death and famine did eat and consume them. The land itselfc, which 
before those wars was populous, well inhabited, and rich in all the good blessings of 
God, being plenteous of come, full of cattell, well stored with fish and sundrie other 
good commodities, is now become waste and barren, yielding ?io fruits, the pastures 
no cattell, the fields no come, the aire no birds, the seas, (though full of fish,) yet 
to them yielding nothing. Finallie, every waie the curse of God was so great, and 
the land so barren both of man and beast, that whosoever did travell from the one 
end to the other of all Munster, even from Waterford to the head of Smecrweeke, 
which is about six score miles, he would not meet ante man woman or child, saving 
in townes and cities ; nor yet see anie beast, but the very wolves, the foxes, ami 
other like ravening beasts ; many of them laie dead, being famished, and the 
residue gone elsewhere." — Hollinshed, VI. 459. 

" Suche horrible and lamentable spectacles there are to beholde, as the burninge of 
villages, the ruyn of churches, the wastinge of suche as have ben good townes and 
castells : yea, the view of the bones and seniles of the ded suhjectes, who partelie 
by murder, partelie by famyn, have died in the feelds, as, in troth, hardelie any 
Christian with drie eies could beholde.^' — Svduf.t, I. 24. 

1567. " Never sawe I a more waste and desolate landc, no, not in the confyncs 
of other countries, where actuall warre hath contvnualhe ben kepte, by the greatest 

11 



83 VINDICLE HIBE^NIC.E, 

Moryson, having stated that the submissions of the Irish were at 
length received, informs his reader, that it took place "partly out of 
human commiseration, having with our own eyes daily seen the lamen- 
table state of the country, where we found every where men dead of 
famine." He adds, " we have been credibly informed, that in the space 
oiafeto months, there were above three thousand starved in Tyrone.''^ 
— MoRisoN, apud Curry, I. 50. 

Although the facts contained in the following statement do not fall 
within the period embraced in the present division of this work, I am 
induced to give them a place here, in order to dismiss at once the de- 
tails of the horrible sufferings of the Irish from the demoniac plan of 
extermination so often adopted by the English armies. 

"About the year 1652 and 1653, the plague and famine had so swept away whole 
countries, that a man might travel twenty or thirty miles, and not see a living 
creature, either man, beast, or bird ; they being cither all dead, or had quit those deso- 
late places ; our soldiers would tell stories of the place where they saw a smoak ; it 
was so rare to see either smoak by day, or fire, or candle by night. And when we 
did meet with two or three poor cabins, none but very aged men, with women and 
children, and those, with the prophet, might have complained, ('we are become as a 
bottle in the smoak, our skin is black like an oven, because of the terrible famine ;') 
J have neen those miserable creatures plucking stinking carrion out of a ditch, 
black and rotten, and been credibly informed that theij digged corpse out of the 
t grave to eat : but the most tragical story I ever heard was from an officer command- 
ing a party of horse, who, hunting for lories in a dark night, discovered a light, 
which they supposed to be a fire, which the tories usually made in those waste coun- 
tries, to dress their provisions, and warm themselves ; but drawing near, they found 
it a ruined cabin, and, besetting it round, some did alight, and peeping at the window, 
where they saw a great fire of wood, and a company of miserable old women and 
children sitting round about it, and betwixt them and the fire, a dead corpse lay 
broiling, ivhich as the fire roasted, they cut offcollops, and eat ! /" — Laurence, 86. 

The ferocity of soldiers hardened by a life of slaughter, and infuriat- 
ed against tlieir enemies on the field of battle, will admit of some de- 
gree of palliation. But what palliation can be ofiered for those who 
sit down calmly and frame projects of extermination by famine, and 
its concomitant the plague ? Their guilt is of infinitely deeper dye. 

It is melancholy to relate, and stamps the character of Spenser, the 
poet, with indiilible disgrace, that after having been an eye witness of the 
Desmond war, in which the sword, famine, and pestilence devoured so 
large a portion of the population of the south of Ireland, and produced 
scenes of misery sufficient to mollify the heart of a Herod or a Nero, 
he was ferocious enough to advise a recurrence to the destruction of the 
fruits of the earth, for the purpose of producing another famine, in order to 
force them, " quietly to consume themselves, and devour one another .'"* 

—'»►©©©<♦"•— 

princes of Christendommc, and there herde I suche lamentable cryes atid dolefull 
co7nplayntes, made by that small rernayne of poor people ivhicJi yet are lefte" 
— Sydney, I. 24. 

* He proposed that twenty days should be allowed for them to come in. " After- 
ward I would have none received, but left to their fortune and miserable end: my 
reason is, for that those which will afterwards remaine without, arc stout and obsti- 
nate rebells, such as will never bo made dutiful and obedient, nor brought to labour 
or civill conversation, having once tasted that licentious life, and being acquainted 
with spoyle and outrages, will ever after be reaJy for the like occasions, so as there 
is no hope of their amendment or recovery, and therefore needfull to be cut off. 

" The end will, (I assure me,) bee very short, and much sooner than it can be in 
so great a trouble, as it seemeth, hoped for, although there should none of them fall 



CHAPTER V. 83 

It is difficult to believe that such a diabolical plan could have entered 
the heart of a poet, whose soothing and tender strains have been the 
admiration of readers of taste, for above two centuries. It affords full 
proof, that a man may write like an angel, and yet possess the heart 
of a demon. 

— >!♦>«© *«« — 

by the sword, nflj.bee slain by the souldiour : yet thus being kept from manurance 
and their cattle from running abroad, by this hard restraint, they ivonld quietly con- 
sume themselves, and devour e one another ; the proofe whereof I saw sufficiently in 
these late warres of Munster : for notxvitlistanding that the same -was a most rich and 
plentiful countrey, full of corn and cattle, that you would have thought they should 
have been able to stand long, yet in one yeare and a halfe they -were brought to 
such -wretchednesse, as that any stony heart -would have rued the same. Out 
oj" every corner of the -woods and glynnes they came creeping forth upon their 
handes, for their legges could not beare them; they looked like anatomies of 
death ; they spake like ghosts crying out of their graves ; they did eate the dead 
carrions, happy -where they could find the^n, yea, and one another soone after, inso- 
much as the very carcasses they spared not to scrape out of their graves ; and if 
they found a plot of water-cresses or shamrocks, there they flocked as to a feast for 
the time ; yet not able long to continue therewithall ; that in short space there were 
none almost left, and a most populous and plentiful country SUDDAINLY LEFT 
VOYDE OF MAN AND BEAST."— Spenseb, 165. 



84 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^, 



CHAPTER VI. 

Baseness and perfidy, ^didteration of the coin. Queyfi Elizabeth a 
swindler. Sir John Perrot a kidnapper. Lord Moiintjoy a mail 
robber. Deputy Grey a perfidious violater of his pledged faith. 
Six noblemen ivickedly and treacherously hanged, drawn, and 
quartered. Skeffington wreaks his vengeance on the dead. 

" The wicked statesman with false heart pursues 
A train of guilt — and acts with double views — 
Maintains an agent on the judgment seat — 
To screen his crimes, and make his frauds complete." 

Chuhchili.. 

It is painful, for the honour of human nature, to reflect on the base- 
ness and perfidy which characterised a great proportion of the English 
officers in Ireland. In their intercourse with the natives, the ties of 
honour, honesty, and justice, were wholly disregarded. Among the 
guilty are many who stand high in the British annals, and are regarded 
as shedding lustre on their nation. 

A remarkable feature attending some of these transactions, which 
is of very rare occurrence in history, is, that many of the governors, 
deputies, and other officers vested with authority in Ireland, were so 
lost to every sense of shame, that in various instances, they or their 
confidential friends or secretaries were the heralds of their own infamy, 
which they bequeathed to posterity with as little concern as if they 
were recording some glorious acts of heroism. 

Sir John Perrot, among his Maehiavelian advices to Queen Elizabeth, 
for the government of Ireland, was base enough to recommend a swind- 
ling project of adulterating the coin of Ireland, which she was profligate 
enough to adopt ! He advised to coin 400,000 pounds, so far adulterat- 
ed, that it should cost the queen only 100,0(10 pounds. And, strange 
as it may seem, he pretended seriously to believe that it would confer 
a lasting benefit on Ireland, and tend to the reformation and improve- 
ment of the country !* 

His reasoning on the advantages to flow to Ireland from this piratical 
project is truly curious and highly worthy of the projector.! 

* He proposed that there " be coyned yeerely, during the first four yeares, 100,000/. 
in pieces of Qd. Ad. 2d. and Id. the same to containe but a fourth part of fine siluer, 
letting all coines that are currant there, of good gold and siluer, to run as now they 
doe : so your maiesties charge, besides all charges of coynage, will amount to no 
more but 25,000/. yeerely, which, by that time your maiesty with God's fauour 
should see, would bring you a fair reckoning of that countrey and gouernment." 
— Perhot, xiv. 

•j- " As imbasing of coyne and such like dangerous innovations, may breed harme 
in well-gouerned states : so in Ireland, being all out of order, it can doe no harme 
at all ; but rather it is to be hoped, that this small inconuenience may be a meane 
to redresse not onely a number of other ffreater inconiieniences, but also itselfe too 
■withal in the end." — Perbot, xv. 



CHAPTER VI. 85 

Here is a scheme propounded by a viceroy, and carried into operation 
by his sovereign, which embraces as great a mass of fraud as the aggre- 
gate crimes of scores of criminals whose guilt has been expiated by the 
gallies, or the halter. 

It is worthy of remark, that Queen Elizabeth, in the proclamation 
prohibiting the refusal of this base money,* under severe penalties, had 
the hardihood, in utter disregard to truth and common sense, to make 
a hypocritical parade of her honour and regard for justice,! while she 
was promulgating a swindling scheme for depredating on and plunder- 
ing her poor subjects. The folly of attempting to deceive the world 
by such a hollow pretence, is almost as contemptible, as the fraud itself 
is detestable. 

The lord deputy Sir John Perrot, sunk into the base character of 
a kidnapper. Being desirous of obtaining possession of O'Donnel, one 
of the most potent proprietors in Ulster, or his son, he despatched a 
crafty captain with a vessel laden with wine, to Donegal, to entrap the 
unsuspecting youth. 1 The vessel was reported as having arrived from 
Spain — and the young man being invited on board, accepted the invi- 
tation, with two of his companions. They were plied well with drink, 
and as soon as a favourable opportunity offered, were loaded with 
chains, when the captain set sail for Dublin, where he delivered his 
victims to the deputy, by whom they were perfidiously immured in 
prison, where they languished for many years ; till at length, probably 
by bribing their keepers, they found means to escape. 

A case of highway robbery, perpetrated by order of Lord Mountjoy, 
next demands attention. 

Don Juan de Aquila, commander of a body of Spanish troops, which 
had invaded Ireland, had been defeated, and obliged to sign a capitu- 
lation, whereby he engaged to embark with his troops, and return to 

— >»>»9®a<tii«.i 

• " Her majesty doth expressely charge and command, that they, nor any of 
them, shall not after the day of the publishing heereof, refuse, reject, or denie to rc- 
ceiue in payment of wages, fees, stipend, or in payment of debts, or in bargaine, or 
for any other matter of trade, commerce, or dealing betweene man and man, any of 
the said moneys of either kind, either mixed of siluer, or pure copper, but that they 
shall receiue and accept the same at such values and rates as they are coyned for, 
viz, shillings for shillings, pieces of six-pence for six-pence, and so of all other the 
severall kinds of that coyne respectiuely ; denouncing hereby to all such as shall be 
found wilfully and obstinately to refuse the said moneys of this new standered being 
tendered unto them in payments, or in any dealings betweene partie and partie, that 
they shall for that their contempt, receiue such punishment, as by her majestiea 
prerogatiue royall may be inflicted uprni persons contemning' pubUque orders es- 
tablished for the universall good of that her realme .'" — Pacata Hibemia, 266. 

f " Her highnesse, being a prince that in her gracious disposition, doth ever 
affect to make all her actions cleare and allowable, in their owfie nature, rather 
than in the power of supreame authoritie, intending in this cause to giue to all per- 
sons such satisfaction as is reasonable." — Pacata Hibemia, 267. 

+ " The deputy sent one Skipper, a merchant of Dublin, with a shippe loaden with 
sacks, as if he had come out of Spain, directing him to runne up by Donagall, as 
farre as hee could unto O'Donnells country, where he should not only offer to sell at 
a cheape price, but be liberall in giving wine to such as should come aboard him. 
And that if O'Donnell or his sonne come aboard him by that meanes, (as he knew 
they would,) hee should give them so much as might make them forget themselves, 
as being drunke should clap them under hatch, and bring them away to Dublin. 
This device was as carefully performed as projected, young O'Donnell being by this 
meanes surprized and brought away." — Perrot, 129. 



88 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^. 

his own country. While he remained at Cork, preparing for embarka- 
tion, a Spanish pinnace arrived with despatches from his government. 
The president hired a wretch of the name of Nuce, whom he directed 
to select as many ruffians as he chose, fit for such a service ; to attack 
the messenger ;' rob him of his despatches ; and bind him to prevent a 
pursuit. 

Nuce faithfully performed the service, and brought the despatches 
to the deputy, with whom Don Juan was to dine that day. The mes- 
senger being released, came and related his misfortune to Don Juan, 
who complained to the deputy, requesting him to make inquiry re- 
specting the letters, of the president, whom it appears he suspected of 
being the instigator of the robbery. The deputy promised compliance 
with the request, but endeavoured to persuade him that the crime was 
committed by some of the Irish for the purpose of deriving advantage 
from a display of the letters. Next day, he assured the Spaniard that 
the President had not the despatches, which, by the way, he himself 
had at that moment in his possession.* 

Here is a revolting tissue of fraud and falsehood, at which a man of 
honour would have shuddered. It realized the fable of the two thieves 
and tlie butcher. The president stole the letters— ym" facit per alium 

• " A Spanish pinnace landed in the westermost part of the province, and in her, 
there was a messenger sent from the king to Don Juan de Aquila, with a packet of 
letters. The president having knowledge thereof, told the lord deputie, that if he 
had a desire to know the king of Spaine's intentions, there was a good occasion of- 
fered. The lord deputies heart itching to have the letters in his hands, prayed the 
president to intercept them, if hee could hansomely doe it ; the president undertooke 
it, and having notice that the next morning the messenger would come from Kin- 
sale to Corke, and knowing that there were but two wayes by which hee might 
passe, called Captaine William Nuce unto him, (who commanded his foote com- 
pany,) to make choise of such men as hee could trust to lie upon those passages, 
and when they saw such a Spaniard, (whom hee had described unto him,) to seaze 
upon him, and as thieues to rob him both of Ids letters, horses, and money, not to 
hurt his person, but to leaue him and his guid bound, that hee might make no swift 
pursuit after them ; and when they had delivered him the letters, to runne away. 
Captaine Nuce so well followed his instructions, as the Spaniard was taken in a 
little wood, and the letters brought at dinner time ; (Don Juan, if I doe not mistake, 
that very day dyning with him,) vyho instantly carried them to the lord deputie, 
where, at good leasure, the packets were opened and read ; which done the president 
went to his house, leaving the letters with the lord deputie. The same evening, the 
Spanish messenger having beene unbound by passengers, came to Don Juan de 
Aquila, relating his misfortune, in being robbed not live miles from the towne : Don 
Juan de Aquila went immediately to the lord deputy, grievously complayning that 
the messenger was robbed by souldiers ; (as he alleaged ;) the lord deputie seemed 
not lesse sorry, but, (said he,) it is a common thing in all armies to have debaucht 
souldiers; but Aee thought it to bee rather done by some of the country thieues ; 
but if the fact was committed by souldiers, it ivas most like to bee done by some 
Irishmen, who thought it to bee a good purchase, (as well as the money,) to get the 
letters, to show them unto their friends in rebellion, that they might the better un- 
derstand in what estate they were in. Don Juan not being satisfied with this an- 
swer, desired the lord deputie to enquire of the lord president, (for of his intercept- 
ijig of them he had a vehement suspition,) whether hee had any knowledge of the 
matter, and so they departed. The next morning the lord deputie related to the 
president the complaint and his answers : Don Juan eager in the pursuite of his let- 
ters, came to know of the lord deputie what the president answered : The lord 
deputie answered him upon his fayth, that hee was sure that the president had 
them not ; which hee might well doe, for they wei'e in his owne possession" — Pa- 
cata Hibernia, 473. 



CHAPTER VI. 87 

facit per se — the deputy had them. The former, therefore, could 
Bwear with a clear conscience, that he had them not, and the latter 
that he had not stolen them ! 

In order to delude the Spaniard, and to screen themselves from the 
disgrace of such a base action, they issued a proclamation, offering a 
reward for the discovery of the robbers. 

To the falsehoods above stated, another was added. When the 
Spaniards were nearly all embarked, the day before the departure of 
Don Juan, the lord deputy showed him a copy of the letters, which, 
he said, had been sent to him from Ulster, by a priest who was his 
spy about Tyrone, to whom they had been forwarded by the robbers. 
•—Pacata Hibernia, 473. 

But the case I have now to record is as far more base, as murder 
is more criminal than robbery. Six Irish noblemen of English extrac- 
tion, were hanged, drawn, and quartered, by a perfidious violation of 
faith, at which a renegado Moor might feel ashamed. Fitzgerald, Earl 
of Kildare, had been, like so many others of the Irish nobility, goaded 
into resistance, and had defended himself with so much skill and brave- 
ry, that the English had no hopes of conquering him in the field — and 
therefore assailing him by treachery, the unsuspecting earl fell a vic- 
tim to his reliance upon the perfidious deputy, who sent a herald to 
invite him to a conference, with hostages for his safety in coming and 
returning.* He accordingly went to the deputy, by whom he was 

—•»>♦* ® »«"— 

* " With Fitzgirald, Sir William Brereton skirmished so fiercelie, as both the 
sides were rather for the great slaughter disadvantaged, than either part by anie 
great victorie furthered. Master Brereton, therefore perceiving that rough nets were 
not the fittest to take such peart birds, gave his advise to the lord deputie to grow 
with Fitzgerald by faire iheans to some reasonable composition. The deputy liking 
of the motion, craved a parlee, sending certaine of the English as hostages to 
Thomas his campe, with a protection directed unto him, to come and go at will and 
pleasure. Being upon this securitie in conference with the Lord Greie, he was per- 
suaded to submit himselfe to the king his mercie, -with the governours faithfuU and 
undoubted promise that he should be pardoned upon his repaire into England. 
And to the end that no treacherie might have beene misdeemed of either side, they 
both received the sacrament openlie in the campe, as an infallible scale of the cove- 
nants and conditions of either part agreed ! 

" Hereupon Thomas Fitzgerald, sore against the willes of his councellors, dismist 
his armie, and rode with the deputie to Dublin, where he made short abode, when he 
sailed to England with the favourable letters of the governour and the councell. 
And as he would have taken his journeie to Windsore, where the court laie, he was 
intercepted contrarie to his expectation in London waie, and conveied without halt 
to the tower ! And before his imprisonment was bruted, letters were posted into 
Ireland, streictlie commanding the deputie upon sight of them, to apprehend Thomas 
Fitzgirald his uncles, and to see them with all speed convenient shipt into England, 
which the lord deputie did not slacke. For having feasted three of the gentlemen 
at Kilmainan, immediatelie after their banket, (as it is now and then seen that 
sweet meat will have sowre sauce,) he caused them to be manacled, and led as pri- 
soners to the castell of Dublin ! and the other two were so roundlie snatcht up in . 
villages hard by, as they sooner felt their own captivitie, than they had notice of 
their brethren's calamitie ! The next wind that served into England, these five 
brethren were embarked, to wit, James Fitzgerald, Walter Fitzgerald, OHver Fitz- 
gerald, John Fitzgerald and Richard Fitzgerald. Tliree of these gentlemen, James, 
Walter, and Ricliard, -were knoivne to have crossed their nephue Thomas to their 
poivcr in his rebellion, and therefore were not occasioned to misdoubt anie dan- 
ger ! ! ! ! But such as in those dales were enemies to the house, incensed the king 
so sore against it, persuading him, that he should never conquer Ireland, as long as 
anie Geraldine breathed in the countrie : as for making thepathwaie smooth, he -was 



88 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE. 

persuaded to sail for England, under a pledge that he would be par- 
doned for the insurrection ; but immediately upon his arrival in that 
country, he was apprehended and thrown into prison. Henry VIII. 
sent orders to Lord Grey to entrap his uncles before the news of his 
imprisonment had put them on their guard. The deputy accordingly 
invited them to a feast. Three of them went, and as soon as it was 
over, were perfidiously seized, fettered, and put into confinement. Of 
the other two he possessed himself by some stratagem, and then des- 
patched the whole five to England, where, with their nephew, they 
were hanged, drawn, and quartered, to the eternal disgrace of Henry 
and his treacherous deputy. Could any thing add to the atrocious 
villany of this transaction, it would be that the uncles were wholly 
unconnected with the nephew in his resistance to the government, 
and that three of them had opposed him, and used their utmost en- 
deavours to induce him to remain at peace! 

In the case of M'Mahon, one of the Ulster chiefs, was displayed an 
equal degree of baseness and cruelty, to which was added a barefaced 
robbery. On the decease of his brother without issue, he applied to 
the deputy Fitzwilliam, to be put in possession of the estate, promis- 
ing a bribe to induce compliance. The deputy engaged to gratify 
him — and for that purpose went with him to the county of Monaghan, 
where the estate lay. But the bribe not being paid, Fitzwilliam had 
him tried for an act said to have been committed two years before, an 
act which had been customary in Ireland, and not regarded as criminal 
— but which had been recently rendered a capital offence by a law, 
not then in force in the unhappy man's country.* 

resolued to lop off as lueU the good and sound grapes as the wild and fruitlesse 
bevies ; whereby appeareth how dangerous it is to be a rub, when a king is disposed 
to sweepe an allie." — Hollinshed, VI. 302. 

"Thomas Fitzgerald the third of February, and these five brethren his uncles, 
were drawne, hanged, and quartered at Tiburne, which was incontilenthe bruted as 
well in England and Ireland, as in foren soiles." — Idem, 303, 

* " As if the secret fire of disaffection were not sufficiently kindled in the north- 
ern province, Fitzwilliam by his intemperate conduct seemed to court every occasion 
of inflaming it. Mac-Mahon, chieftain of the district called Monaghan, had surren- 
dered his country held by tanestry to the queen, and received a rcgrant thereof, un- 
der the broad seal of England, to him and his heirs male, and in default of such 
heirs, to his brother Hugh. As he died without issue, this brother petitioned to be 
admitted to his inheritance. He is said to have promised a considerable bribe in 
order to facilitate his suit : and to his failure of payment it was imputed, that he was 
for some days imprisoned, on his arrival at Dublin. Fitzwilliam, however, was pre- 
vailed upon to promise that he would settle him in peaceable possession of his in- 
heritance, and for this purpose that he meant to go in person into Monaghan. But 
scarcely had he arrived thither, when he eagerly received a new accusation against 
Hugh, that two years before, he had entered hostilcly into a neighbouring district, to 
recover some rent due to him, by force of arms. In the unreformed parts of Ireland, 
.Buch actions were common and unnoticed ; but the English law declared them trea- 
sonable. The unhappy JMac-J\fahon, for an offence committed before the law wfiich 
declared it capital had been establislied in Ids country, was tried, condemned by 
a jury, said to be formed of private soldiers, and executed in two days ; to the utter 
consternation of his countrymen. His estate was distributed to Sir Henry Bagnal 
and other adventurers, together with four of the old Irish sept."' — Lelanb, II. 384. 

" The condemnation of this chieftain confirmed the Irish in their aversion to 
English polity, which they considered as a system of hateful tyranny and cruelty. 
They combined in a resolution of opposing the admission of sheriffs, and other 
officers of justice, into their respective counties. When Fitzwilliam intimated to 



CHAPTER VI. 89 

The jury was composed of common soldiers, and M'Mahon was of 
course found guilty, and hanged. His offence was recovering rent due 
him by force of arms ! His estate was parcelled out among Sir Henry 
Bagnell and some other rapacious adventurers, except a portion allotted 
for some of his sept, who bribed 'the deputy to favour them with a 
share of the unholy plunder. 

There is a peculiar degree of baseness and cruelty in the treatment 
of Walter De La Hide and his lady, by the deputy, Skeffington. Their 
son had taken up arms against the government, on what ground is not 
stated — and in consequence they were unjustly and wickedly seized, 
and thrown into prison, because the "governor suspected" the son 
was "set on by his mother!" They were held in duress for "twelve 
months," and repeatedly examined. Notwithstanding all the "pre- 
sumptions and surmises," they " were in the end found guiltless." 
The lady Avas basely and pertidiously tampered with, to induce her 
to accuse her husband of being an accomplice in the crime, with a 
view of attainting him, and confiscating his estate. These vile and 
insidious practices being found inefiectual, she was threatened with 
the rack, or to be put to death, to force her to compliance. Possibly, 
and indeed not improbably, she was actually racked. Be this as it 
may, she died in the castle — and was for a time denied interment, on 
the ground that the mother of such a traitor ought rather to be cast 
on a dunghill as food for ravens and dogs, than to have Christian 
burial !* 

Who can read such atrocious and heart-rending stories without vent- 
ing 

" Curses not only deep but loud," 

on the unhallowed fiends who perpetrated them ! After every means 
that could be devised by force or fraud to attach guilt to father or 

the chieftain of Fermanagh that he intended to send a sheriff into his district, Mac- 
Guire answered with a well-affected simplicity — ' Your sheriff shall be welcome : 
but let me know his erick, that if my people should cut off his head, I may levy it 
upon the country.' " — Leland, II. 385. 

* " Sir Walter De La Hide, knight, and his wife, the lady Gennet Eustace, were 
apprehended, and brought as prisoners, by master Brabson, vice-treasurer, from their 
town of Moiclare, to the castle of Dublin, becmtse their son and heir, James De La 
Hide, ivas the only brewer of all this rebellion; who, as the governor suspected ! 
was set on by his parents, and namclie by his mother. The knight and his wife, 
lying in duress for the space of twelve months, were at several times examined ; and 
notwithstanding all presumptions and surmises that could be gathered, they -were in 
the e7id found guiltless of their so7i his folly. But the lady was had in examination 
apart, and enticed by means to charge her husband with her son his rebellion, who 
being not won thereto, with all the means that could be wrought, -was ^nejiaced to 
be put to death, or to be hack't, and so with extremity to be compelled, whereas 
with gentleness she could not be allured, to acknowledge these apparent treasons, 
that neither her husband nor she could, without great show of impudence, deny. 

" The gentlewoman, with these continual storms heart-broken, deceased in the 
castle : from thence her body was removed unto the Gray friars, with the deputy 
his commandment, that it should not be interred, until las pleasure were further 
known ; adding withal, that the carcase of one who was tlie mother of so arrant an 
arch-traitor, ought rather to be cast out on a dunghill, to be carrion for ravens and 
dogs to gnaw upon, than to be laid in any Christian grave .' .' The corpse lying 
four or five days in this plight, at the request of the lady Gennet Golding, wife to 
Sir John White, the governor licensed that it should be buried." — Hooker, apud 

HoLLINSHBD, VI. 303. 

12 



90 VINDICIJ3 HIBERNIC.E, 

mother, or to force the wife to bear false witness against her husband 
— and after her soul has taken its flight from this wicked world, her 
implacable tormentor vents his satanical malice against her lifeless 
corpse ! Were this hideous story narrated by an enemy, it would be 
disbelieved, and utterly discarded "as an atrocious calumny. But it 
stands recorded in never-dying strains by the historian of the perpe- 
trator. 

It would be endless to detail all the base and profligate tricks to which 
the government had recourse. Here follows one practised by Carew, 
president of Munster, to circumvent John Fitz-Thomas, brother to the 
Earl of Desmond. Carew had corrupted Dermond O'Connor, an 
Irish nobleman. To this traitor he gave a letter written in his nam0, 
and addressed to Fitz-Thomas, which O'Connor was to use on a proper 
occasion, under the pretence that it liad been intercepted. The letter 
was written with great address, and frauglit witli commendations of 
Fitz-Thomas, for expiating his ofl'ences by treachery towards his 
countrymen. It answered the end proposed, and enabled Carew to 
triumph over the confederate Irish, among whom it spread distrust and 
dismay !* 

The baron of Lixnau having died, his son Thomas applied to the 
president, George Carew, for his favour and the protection of the queen, 
in order to gain possession of his inheritance. Both were promised 
]\im, on condition, that he " did some service, which might entitle him 
to them." The kind of service expected, may be satisfactorily ascer- 
tained by a passage in the Pacata Hibernia, wherein this application is 

• The Lord Presidenfs Letter to James Fitz-Thomas. 

" Sin — Your last letters I haue received, and am exceeding glad to see youv 
constant resolution of returne to subjection, and to leaue the rebellious courses, 
wherein you haue long persevered : you may rest assured that promises shall bee 
kept; and you shall no sooner bring Dermond O'Connor to me aliuc or dead, and 
banisli his bownoghs out of the countrie, but that you shall haue your demand satisfied, 
which I thanke God, I am both able and willing to performe ; belecue me, you liaue 
no hettei' ivay to recover your desperate estate, than by this good service which you 
have proffered ; and therefore I cannot but commend your judgement, in choosing 
the same to redeeme your former faults. And I doe the rather belecue the per- 
formance of it, by 3'our late action touching Loghguire, wherein your brother and 
yourselfe haue well merited ; and as I promised, you shall tinde mec so just as no 
creature living shall ever know, that either of you did assent to the surrender of it ; 
all your letters I haue received, as also the joynt letter, from your brother and your- 
selfe ; I pray loose no time, for dclayes in groat actions are subject to many dangers. 
Now that the queenes armic is in the field, you may worke j'our determination with 
most securitie, being ready to rclecuc you upon a daycs warning ; so praying God 
to assist you in this meritorious enterprize, I doe leaue you to his protection, this 
twentie nineth of May 1600." 

" This letter was sent to Dermond O'Connor, which when time should serue, hee 
might sfiew as intercepted by Jiim ! and therefore what he did, was imposed upon 
hira by necessitie, except he would suffer himselfc, wittingly and wiUingly to be 
betraied." — Pacata Ilihcrnia, 93. 

" Then Dermond O'Connor layed hold upon James Fitz-Thomas and said, my 
lord you are in hand ; in hand, (answered he,) for whom or for what cause 1 I haue 
taken you for O'Ncale, sailh he ; and I purjiosc to dctainc you, untill I bee certified 
of his pleasure ; for youvsoJfc haiie combined with the English, and promised to the 
president to deliver mc, cither aliue or dead into his hands ; and for proofc thereof 
behold, (saith he,) letters which were intercepted and brought to nice, (under the 
president's hand,) to confirme the same ; and thorewithall produced ihcm." — 
Idem, 98. 



CHAPTER VI. 91 

stated. " It was thought no ill policy to make the Irish draw blood 
upon one another, ivhereby their private quarrels might advance the 
public scrvice.''^t But the high-minded nobleman scorned to acquire, 
by the murder of his countrymen, possession of an estate which of 
right belonged to him — and therefore " absolutely refused, because, 
forsooth, it stood not with his conscience nor his honour — for these 
were his own words in a letter that he wrote to my Lord of Thomond." 
— Pacata Hibernia, 136. 

These scrupules which would have elevated him in the eyes of a 
man of justice or honour, could not be duly appreciated by the sordid 
soul of the president; and thus were destroyed all his hopes of the 
inheritance: for "upon this answer the president rejected both the man ■ 
and his suit !" — Ibid. 

It is impossible for any man of rectitude, to read this account without 
abhorrence and contempt of the pi-ofligate president, and admiration of 
the magnanimous sufferer. The former, lost to every sense of honour 
and justice, imposes, as a task on the latter, for the attainment of his 
inheritance, the perpetration of murder — and because lie will not comply 
with the infamous terms, plunders him of his patrimony. Tlic latter, 
with the soul of a Roman, scorns the temptation and the tempter, and 
dooms himself to honourable poverty, rather than pollute himself with 
the commission of such a crime. 

A detestable feature of the warfare carried on by the English officers, 
was to hire bravoes and assassins to betray or murder* such of the Irish 

" " Carew descended to still more dishonourable practices. One Nugent, a 
servant of Sir Thomas Norris, had deserted to the rebels, and by the alacrity of his 
services acquired their confidence. In a repenting mood he submitted to the president, 
and to purchase his pardon, promised to destroy either the titular caii or his brother 
John. As a plot was already laid against tlie former ! and as his death could only 
serve to raise up new competitors for his title, the bravo loas directed to proceed 
against John ! Ho seized his opportunity, and attempted to dispatch him ; but as 
liis pistol was just levelled, he was seized, condemned to die, and at his execution 
confessed his design ; declaring that many others had sworn to the lord president to 
effect what he intended." — Leland, II. 464. 

" Nugent in his examination freely confessed his whole intent, which was, (as 
heo then said,) to haue dispatched John Fitz-Thoinas, and immediately to haue 
poasted unto the Sugan Earle, to carry the first news thereof, intending to call him 
aside, in secret manner to relate him the particulars of his brother's murther, anti 
then to execute as much upon him also : adding, moreover, that although they take 
away his life, (which he would not entreat them to spare,) yet was their owne 
safetie never the more assured : for there were many others, which himselfe perlectly 
knew to haue solemnly sworno unto the president to effect as much as he intended. 
This confession being sealed with his death, did strike such a fearefull terrour into 
the two brethren, that James Fitz-Thomas himselfe afterwards, unto the president ac- 
knowledged, they never durst lodge together in one place, or even seme in the 
heads of their troopes, for feare to be shot by some of their o-wne 7nen." — Pacata 
Hibernia, 83. 

" He proclaymed Courcye traytour, and hyred sundry gentlemen with rewards, to 
bring him in quicko or dead : so long hec wooed the matter, that Conrcyea oivn 
captaines tuere inveygled. to betray their lord! Therefore upon Good Friday, when 
the earle did off his armour, and in secret meditations visited religious places bare- 
footed, they layde for him, tooke him as a rebell, and shipped him into England the 
next way, where he was adjudged to perpetuall prison. Sentleger addeth in his 
collections that Lacy payd the traitors their money, and then immediately hanged 
them!" — Campion, 107. 

t Pacata Hibernia, C50. .. "^ - 






\ >- ■ 






92 VINDICLf: HIBERNICf:. 

as were too foiTnidable to be overcome by force of arms. War, in its 
best regulated state, is a most tremendous evil. In Ireland its horrors 
were increased tenfold by the unbounded sway of all the vilest passions, 
that disgrace, degrade, and brutalize human nature. 

Even under the semblance of treaties .of peace, and at the festal 
board, the Irish were not unfrequently perfidiously butchered.* 

Let it be observed, that both the facts stated in the subjoined note 
are derived by Leland from the Irish annals, and therefore may appear 
somewhat of a departure from my plan of relying almost altogether on 
English authority. But the reason assigned by the reverend author, 
cannot fail to justify the departure. And moreover, the second fact is 
fully corroborated by Captain Lee, an English officer, in the servicfe 
of Elizabeth, as may be seen, supra, page 40. 

• " The Irish manuscript annals of this reign, (Elizabeth's) mention a very 
dishonourable transaction of Essex on his return to Ulster. It is here given in a 
literal translation from the Irish, with which the author was favoured by Mr. 
O'Connor. 'Anno 1574. A solemn peace and concord was made between the 
Earl of Essex and Felim O'Nial. However, at a feast wherein the Earl entertained 
that chieftain, and at Ute end of their good cheer, 0'J\''ial ivith his ivife -were seized, 
their friends who attended were put to the sivord before their faces. Felim, toge- 
ther -with his ivife and brother, were conveyed to Itublin, wliere they were C2it up 
in quarters.^ This execution gave universal discontent and horror. 

" In like manner, these annals assure us, that a few years after, the Iiish chieftains 
of the King's and Queen's county were invited by the English to a treaty of acconsr 
modation. But when they arrived at t/ie place of conference, they were instantly 
surrounded by troops, and all butchered on the spot. — Such relations would be more 
suspicious, if these annals in general expressed great virulence against the English 
and their government. But they do not appear to differ essentially from the printed 
histories, except in the minuteness with which they record the local transactions 
and adventures of the Irish : and sometimes they expressly condemn their country- 
men, for their rebellions against their prince." — LiitAKD, II. 312. 



^>^c 



;'••' '^t /. 



CHAPTER Vir, 93 



CHAPTER VII. 

Representation in parliament. Barefaced fraud, venality, and 
corruption of the executive, legislature, and judiciary. 

" Justice is lame, as well as blind among us ; 
The laws, corrupted to tlieir ends that make them, 
Serve but for instruments of some new tyranny, 
That every day starts up among us." — Otwat. 

" This is a wretched state 
Where all agree to spoil the public good." — Idem. 

Among the grievances under which the Irish groaned for centuries, 
the frauds and conuption perpetrated in packing parliaments, held a 
most conspicuous place — in fact, they might be said to be the source 
of the larger portion of the great mass of the misery of that unfortunate 
country. Under a parliament correctly constituted, the voice of the 
nation would have had its due share of influence, and it would have 
been impossible to have passed the various laws, particularly those 
of attainder, enacted in that country, which outraged every principle 
of reason and justice, or to have prosecuted that system of depredation 
and slaughter of which the preceding pages furnish a faint outline. 
Under parliamentary sanction, acts of rapine and violence have been 
carried into undisturbed operation, which would probably have been 
defeated, had they come forward in the naked form of executive man- 
dates. 

Parliaments were rarely held in Ireland* but to answer some sinister 
purpose of the deputies — principally to attaint some of the nobility or 
gentry. t The giand object of the Irish administration was to have a 
majority in parliament, devoted to the support of their measures, and 
pliant tools and ministers of their will. In this wicked purpose, they 
were almost universally crowned with success. 



• From the twenty-ninth year of Elizabeth, anno 1587, to the fifteenth of Charles 
I. anno 1639, embracing a period of 52 years, there were but two Parliaments held 
m Ireland; — one in 1613, under James I. ; and the other in 1634-5, under Charles 
I.t Thus were the powers of the legislature wholly suspended, in one instance, for 
twenty-six, and in another for twenty-one years. 

■j- " For to what end was the parliament holden by the lord Leonard Gray in 28 
H. VIII. but to attaint the Giraldines, and to abolish the usurped authority of the 
popel 

" To what purpose did Thomas, earl of Sussex, hold his first parliament in the 
3d and 4th king Philip and queen Mary, but to settle Leix and Oflaly in the crown 1 

" What was the principal cause that Sir Henry Sydney held a parliament in the 
11th year of queen Elizabeth, but to extinguish the name of O^JSTeul, and entitle 
the croivn to the greatest part of Ulster ? 

" And lastly, what was the chief motive of the last parliament holden by Sir John 
Perrot, but the attainder of two great peers of this realm, the viscount Baltinglas, 
and the earl of Desmond, and for vesting of their lands and the landa of their 
adherents, in the actual possession of the crown 1 ! ! !" — Dayies, 300. 

:J: Mountmorres, II, 175, 



94 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC.^. 

No fraud was too base to be employed for the accomplishment of 
this object. Recourse was had to the most barefaced violations of the 
rights of election. To the diflerent counties the deputies sent the 
names of persons of whose support they were assured, and whom they 
were determined to have elected. And every means afforded by ad- 
dress, art, intrigue, or corruption was employed to insure them success. 
When these means failed, as in the counties they sometimes did, open 
violence was used. In aid of all these resources, when necessary, new 
boroughs were created in shabby and contemptible hamlets, where go- 
vernjnent was certain of having its minions, (I was about to say, elect- 
ed — but that would be a prostitution of the term,) smuggled into par- 
liament, to oppress and depiedate on the nation, thus mocked and de- 
luded with a pretended representation. 

I shall notice here only two parliaments, both convened under 
Elizabeth, as the fraudulent and corrupt practises employed in the elec- 
tions for them, are more distinctly marked by the historians, than those 
in preceding cases. The first sat in 1560, during the administration 
of Lord Sussex — the other in 1568, luider Sir Henry Sydney. 

There were twenty counties subject to England in the former period. 
To only ten of these counties were writs issued, Dublin, Meath, West- 
meath, Lowth, Kildare, Catherlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Tipperary, 
and Wexford.* Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Cavan, Clare, Antrim, Ardee, 
Down, and King's and Queen's counties, containing probably half the 
entire population of the kingdom, at all events, far more tlian half of 
the Irish subjects of England, were wholly unrepresented, and of course 
disfranchised. 

Besides the twenty representatives from the counties, there were 
fifty-six from those boroughs in which the royal authority predominat- 
ed. The other boroughs shared the fate of disfranchisement in common 
with the ten counties. 

Here is a stupendous system of fraud, which every man, with a 
spark of honour or justice in his composition, however hostile to Ire- 
land or Irishmen, must pronounce infamous. The disfranchisement 
of so large a portion of the nation would have Avarranted a general 
insurrection. The pleas for the revolution in 1688, bore no more com- 
parison to this grievance, than the river Liffey to the German Ocean. 
Laws made by a parliament thus wickedly constituted, were not obli- 
gatory on the nation, and, under an independent judiciary, would have 
been declared null and void. 

This parliament was thus profligately packed for the purpose of es- 
tablishing the Protestant, and proscribing the Catholic religion. The 
details of the act for this purpose, are reserved for the succeeding 
chapter. 

In the elections for the parliament held in 1568, the most manifest 
injustice prevailed, though of a different character. To pass over mi- 

— "H*®©*""- 

* " In the House of Commons, we find representatives summoned for ten coun- 
ties only. The rest which made up the number seventy-six, were citizens and bur- 
gesses of those towns in which the royal authority -luas predominant . It is therefore 
little wonder, that, in spite of clamour and opposition, in a session of a few weeks, 
the whole ecclesiastical system of Queen Mary was entirely reversed by ft series of 
statutes conformable to those already enacted in the Englisli legislature."— Lft>awd, 
II. 372, 



CHAPTER VII. 95 

nor enormities, and condense the subject into the narrowest compass 
possible, I confine myself to three species of flagrant fraud : — 

I. Many persona were returned for places not incorporated, and 
which of course had no right to representation. 

II. In several of the places entitled to send representatives, the 
sheriffs and mayors retui-ned themselves. 

III. A swarm of Englishmen were returned for places which some 
of them knew not, and of which none of them were residents, al- 
though residence was, by law, an essential requisite in a representa- 
tive. 

In consequence of these frauds, the administration had a considera- 
ble majority in the house of commons, who elected Mr. Stanihurst^ 
recorder of Dublin, their speaker, although Sir Christopher Barnwell 
had a large majority of the votes of the real members, those who were 
duly elected. For a considerable time, the latter disputed the validity 
of the votes of the intruding impostors, which gave rise to the utmost 
disorder, and contests that would have better suited with a bear-garden 
than a parliament.* Hooker, one of the^ impudent intruders, has left 
on record a circumstantial account of the afftiir ; and, as the leader of 
the usurpers, endeavours to attach the guilt of the dishonourable pro- 
ceeding to the members duly returned.! But it is impossible to read 
even his account, varnished as it is with false glosses, without being 
satisfied that the crime rested on him and his accomplices. As well 
might a band of ruffians or burglars, forcing themselves into a man's 
house, with a view to robbery or murder, charge the owner, who en- 
deavoured to save himself, his i^imily, and property, with the crime 
of the affray, and with all its consequences, if bloodshed ensued, as a 
riotous rabble of strangers, who, in violation not merely of honour and 
justice, but of the express law of the land,| had polluted the sanctuary 

• " And in this matter they showed themselves very forward, and so unquiet that 
it was more Hke a bear-baiting of disorderly persons, than a parliament of wise and 
grave men." — Hookkh, apud Hollisshed, VI. 344, 

f " The next dale following, being Friday, the lower house met: and, contrary to 
the order of that house, and duty of that company, instead of nnily, there began a 
disunion ; and for concord, discord was received. For all, or the most part of the 
knights and burgesses of the English pale, especially they, who dwelled within the 
counties of Meath and Dublin, who, seeing u great numher of Englishmen to have 
place in that house, began to except against that assembly as not good, nor warrant- 
ed by law. Their avantparler was sir Christopher Barnwell, knigbt ; who being 
somewhat learned, his credit was so much the more, and by them thought meetest 
and worthy to have been the speaker of that house : and he, being the spokesman, 
alleged three special causes, why he and his complices would not yield their con- 
sents. 

"The first was, because that there were certain hxxrgQsses returned for sundry 
to-wns -which ivere not corporate, and had no voice in the parliament. 

" The second was, that certain sheriffs, and certairi mayors of totuns corporate, 
had returned themselves. 

" The third and chiefest was, that a number of Englishmen were returned to be 
burgesses of such tokens and corporations as -which some of them never kne-w, and 
none at all -were residing and dwelling in the same, accGrding as by the law is re- 
quired." HoLLINSOED, VI. 342. 

# Extract from an act passed anno 1 .541 , the 23d of Henry VIII. 

" Provided, and be it enacted by the authority of the present parliament, that 
from liencefurih everie knight, citizen, and burgess, for everie parliament here- 
after -within this realm of Ireland to be summoned, appoinled, or holden, shall be 



96 VINDrCL^ HIBERNICiE. 

of iegislalion by a forcible entry, could make the legal representatives 
of the nation responsible for their crime. 

The proceedings of the legislature being impeded by these violent 
contests, it was agreed to refer the matter in dispute to the judges. 
This afforded but a miserable chance of redress for the Irish nation, as 
these functionaries were removable at the pleasure of the crown, and 
of course subservient to its views. However, the profligacy of the 
proceedings was fully established i for the judges, biassed as they were, 
admitted the existence of the three enormous frauds alleged by the mi- 
nority.* They decided that two of the classes of usurpers should be 
expelled the parliament, — 

I. Those who were retured for towns not incorporated ; ♦ 

II. Those magistrates who had returned themselves. 

But they most wickedly ordered, that those who were returned for 
towns where they did not reside, should retain their seats ; and that 
the penalty of the false, illegal returns should be paid by the sherifTs. 

The third class being more numerous tlian the other two, and being 
secured in their usurpation by this iniquitous decision, the government 
still possessed a majority, and was of course enabled to carry what- 
ever measures it thought proper ; and thus a few needy and dependent 
Englishmen, who probably had not an acre of land in the island, were 
virtually its legislators I 

What a shameful prostitution of the dignity of the bench ! "What 
an unanswerable proof, that venality and corruption had spread through- 
out every department of the stale, poisoned all the sources of justice, 
and that all were leagued in the grand work of oppressing the wretched 
Irish ! A law, founded in reason, common sense, justice, and honesty, 
passed only twenty-seven years before, had ordained, under a heavy 
penalty, that every borough, or town, or city, should be represented 
by a resident, who would know its situation, feel its wants, plead its 
cause, .rise with its prosperity, and sink with its fall. A horde of 

— ■•►»9 ©©<♦» — 

resident and d-welling ivithin the counties, cities, and toivnes, chosen and elected 
by the greater number of the inhabitants of the said counties, cities, and townes, 
being present at the said election, by virtue of the king's writs for that intent ad- 
dressed, and also the said knights to be elected and chosen in manner and forme be- 
fore rehearsed. And every electour of the said knights to dispend and have lands 
and tenements of estate of freehold within the said counties, at the least to the yearly 
value of fortie shillings over and above all charges ; and every of the inhabitants 
aforesaid choosing or electing in any other manner than as before is mentioned, lo 
forfeit an hundred shillings. And every sheriff' or other officer returning any knight, 
citizen, or burgess, chosen or elected in any other maner than as is before expressed, 
to forfeit an iuindred pounds to be had and recovered as before is specified. And 
every knight, citizen, and burgess talking iipon him or them to be tonight, citizen, 
or burgess and not chosen nor etected in manner and for me as is before mentioned, 
to forfeit an hundred pounds, to be forfeited, recovered and taken in manner and 
forme before rehearsed." — Statutes, 159. 

* The judges, having "discoursed and conferred of this matter, returned their 
answers ; that concerning the first and second exceptions, that the burgesses returned 
from towns not corporate, and for such sheriffs, mayors, and sovereigns, as have re- 
turned themselves, shall be dismissed out of the sam6 ; but as for such others as the 
sheriffs and mayors had returned, they should remain, and tlie penalty to rest upon 
the stinriffs for ticeir ivrong reiurnes." — Hollinshed, VI. 343. 

"The same was so stomached, that the placing of the E7iglishmen, to be knights 
and burgesses, could not be digested, as did appear in the sequel of that assembly, 
where every bill furthered by the English gentlemen, was stopped and hindered by 
them." — Ibid. 



CHAPTER VII. 97 

hungiy Englishmen are nevertheless returned to represent places they 
never saw : a profligate parliament applies to a prostitute bench, to de- 
cide the question whether a remedy shall be applied to this illegal pro- 
ceeding : it decides that these intruders and usurpers shall maintain 
their seats, but that those who returned them shall pay the penalty of 
the infraction of the law ! What solemn mockery ! Suppose a fine 
of one hundred thousand pounds were laid on those officers, which 
would go in the treasury, — suppose they were imprisoned for life, — 
even suppose they were hanged, drawn and quartered ; what compen- 
sation would be aflbrded to the towns robbed of their representation, 
or to the nation cheated with such a fraudulent legislature? 

These procedings, and tlie opinion of the judges, afford an ample 
field for consideration. They exhibit a strong feature of the hideous 
oppression which their rulers exercised over the ill-fated Irish. Let 
us apply this case to this side of the Atlantic. Let us suppose that 
the sheriff of Philadelphia city, instead of allowing the citizens to vote 
for two members of congress, were to elect himself and his deputy ; 
that Frankford, and Bustleton, and Holmesburg, and Chester, and 
Darby, and Marcus Hook, and Point-no-Point were to send each two 
members to congress ; and finally, that a host of newly-arrived citizens 
of Kentucky should be chosen to repiesent some of our towns or coun- 
ties, which they had never seen. This would be a case exactly in 
point. This " blessed condition of peace and security" would make 
" the swords of our citizens leap from their scabbards," to avail my- 
self of the heroics of my countrymen, Burke. 

House of Lords, 

Against the corruption and profligacy of the house of commons, the 
house of lords might have afforded some security : but here the wick- 
ed arts of the government triumphed, and equally trampled under 
foot every principle of honour, honesty, and justice. In every potion 
calculated to heal the wounds or alleviate the distresses of Ireland, 
there was always infused a deleterious drug, whose admixture trans- 
formed it into poison. To secure a majority in the upper house, Irish 
titles were granted to English noblemen, destitute of a single acre of 
land in Ireland. They never appeared in parliament; but confided 
their proxies to the minions of the government, — three, four, or five, 
to one peer.* Thus six of these men of straw, not owning all together 
a single acre in Ireland, could outvote the Duke of Ormond, and the 
Earls of Kildare, Castlehaven, Clanrickarde, and Fingal, who, united, 
possessed probably above a million ! 

The parliament that sat in 1568, was packed for the purpose of at- 
tainting Shane O'Nial, and confiscating his princely estates. The 
act passed for that purpose, affords the most pregnant proof of the 
corruption of that body, and what a solemn mockery it was to style it 
an Irish parliament. To this title the majority had little more claim 
than the common council of London — and it would be almost as honest, 
and fair, and just to allow that council or the parliament of Scotland, to 
make laws for the people of Ireland, as it was for the corrupt body that 

* '■'■ Twenty-nine proxies -were entered, four and Jive to one lord." — Mount- 

JiOltBES, I. 321. 

13 



98 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^E, 

sat ia DuWjn, and usurped the powers of legislation, contrary to the 
law of the land. The act above referred to, assumes, as the grounds 
of its enaction, such miserable legends, and such vile sophistry, as dis- 
play an utter disregard of the slightest appearance of common decency 
or common honesty, and must excite the disgust of every candid ob- 
sei-ver. TJiey form a sort of sui generis in the history of legislation. 
The wickedness of the transaction stares us in the face with the most 
meretricious audacity. The preamble enters into an elaborate attempt 
to prove that the whole island and all its inhabitants were, and of right 
ought to be, the property of the kings of England ! That England or 
Englishmen should advance such claims, grounded, as they were in 
this act, on the fabulous histories of Gurmonds and Belans, and dona- 
tions of an island not their own, might not be very surprising. But 
what indignation must it excite, to have those legendary tales recorded 
among the statutes enacted in the metropolis of Ireland, and by men 
pretending to the venerable character of representatives of that king- 
dom? The pretended proofs would excite our merriment, did not 
profound astonishment and sovereign contempt stifle the propensity to 
ridicule. 

The two principal grounds for asserting a paramount claim to the 
soil and people of Ireland in favour of the English kiiigs, were, first, 
that the progenitors of the Irish, who migrated from Spain, lived in a 
province called Biscan, " whereof Bayon was a member;" that " king 
Gurmond, son of the noble king Belan, king of Great Britain, was lord 
of Bayon," as were many of his successors down to the coming of 
Henry II. into Ireland ; and as the crown devolved in right of succes- 
sion to Elizabeth, " therefore" — most wonderful logic ! — " the Irish 
should be the king of England his people, and Ireland his land."* 

—»»►>©©©♦<»— 

* Extract from '•'■An Act fur the attainder of Shane O'Neile, and the extinguish- 
ment of the name of O^Neile, and the entitling of the Queeti^s majesti/, her 
heirs, and successours, to the country of Tyrone and other countries and territo- 
ries in Ulster. 

" And now, most deere sovereign ladie, least that any man which list not to seeke 
and learn the truth, might be ledd eyther of his owne fantasticall imagination, or by 
the sinister suggestion of otliers, to think that the sterne or lync of the Oneyles 
should or ought, by prioritie of title, to hold and possess anie part of the dominion 
or territories of Ulster before your majestie, your heyres, and successours, we, your 
grace's said faithfull and obedient subjects, for avoyding of all such scruple, doubt, 
and erroneous conceit, doe intend here (pardon first craved of your majestie for our 
tedious boldness) to disclose unto your highness your uuncient and sundry strong- 
auihentique itjtles, conveyed farr beyonde the said lynage of the Oneyles and all 
other of the Irishie to the dignitie, state, title and possession of this your realm of 
Ireland. 

" And therefore it may like your most excellent majestie to be advertized, that the 
auncient chronicles of this realm, written both in the Latine, English, and Irish 
tongues, alledged sundry auncient ty ties for Ike kings of England to this land of 
Ireland. And first, that at the beginning, afore the comming of Irishmen into the 
said land, they were dwelling in a province of Spain, the rchic/i is called Biscan, 
tvhereof Bayon ivus a member, and the chief citie. And that, at the said Irishmen's 
comming into Ireland, one king Gurmond, sonne to the noble king Belan, king of 
Great Britaine, which now is called England, ivas lord of Bayon, as many of his 
successours were to the time of king Henry the second, first conqueror of this realm : 
and THEREFORE THE IRISHMEN "SHOULD BE THE KING OF ENG- 
LAND HIS PEOPLE, AND IRELAND HIS LAND!! 



CHAPTER VII. 99 

But not relying wholly on this title to " the kingdom and the 
people," they adduce another proof equally cogent and valid, grounded 
on a most miserable legend, that Heremon and Heberus, when lead- 
ing their followers from Spain into Ireland, met King Gurmond, at 

— ••>»^9®©^«••— 
" Another title is, that at the same time that Irishmen came out of Biscay, as ex- 
hiled persons, in sixty ships, they met -with the same king Gurmond upon the sea, 
lit the ysles of Orcades, tlien comming from Denmark witli great victory. Their 
captains, called Heberus and Hermon, went to this king, and him tolde the cause of 
their comming out of Biscay, and him prayed, with great instance, that he would 
graunt unto them, that they might inhabit some land in the ivest. The king at the 
last, by advise of his councell, granted them Ireland t-o inliubiie, and assigned unto 
them guides for the sea, to bring them thither: and THEREFORE THEY 
SHOULD AND OUGHT TO BE THE KING OF ENGLAND'S MEN!! 

" Another title is, as the clcrke Geraldus Cambrensis writcth at large the historic 
of the conquest of Ireland by king Henry the second, your famous progenitor, how 
Dermot Mac Morch, prince of Leinster, which is the first part of Ireland, being a 
tyrant or tyrants, banished, went over the sea into ^ormandie, in the parts of France, 
to the said king Henry ; and him besely besought of succour, wliich he obtained, and 
thereupon became liege man to the said king Henry, through which he brought 
power of Englishmen into the land, and married his daughter, named Eve, at Water- 
ford, to Sir Richard Fitz-Gilbert, earle of Stranguile in Wales, and to him granted 
the reversion of Leinster, with the said Eve his daughter. And after that the said 
earle granted to the said king Henry the citie of Dublin, with certain cantreds of 
lands next to Dublin, and all the haven towns of Leinster, to have the rest to him 
in quiet with his grace's favour. 

" Another title is, that in the year of our Lord God one thousand one hundred 
sixtie-two, the aforesaid king Henry landed at the citie of Watcrford, within the 
realm of Ireland, and there came to him Derniet, king of Corke, which is of the na- 
tion of the M'Carties, and of his own proper will became liege, tributarie for him 
and his kingdom, and upon that made his oath and gave his hostages to the king. 
Then the king roade to Cashell, and there came to him Donalde, kuig of Limerick, 
which is of the nation of the O'Brienes, and became his liege, as the other did. 
Then came to him Donald, king of Ossorie, Mac-Shaglin, king of Ophaly, and all 
the princes of the south of Ireland, and became his liege men, as aforesaid. Then 
went the said king Henry to Dublin, and there came to him O'Kirnill, king of 
Uriel, O'Rowcke, king of Meth, and Rothorick, king of all Irislmien of the land, and 
of Connaught, with all the princes, and men of value of the land; and became liege 
subjects, and tributaries, by great oathes for them, their kingdoms and lordships to 
the said king Henry ; and that of their own good wills, as it should seem ; for that 
the chronicles make no mention, of any learre or chivalrie done by tlie said king, 
all the time tltat he ivas in Ireland. 

" And in the year of our Lord God, a thousand, a hundred, four score and five, 
tie gave the land of Ireland to his youngest sonne, John by name, about which time 
the said John came in person into Ireland, and held the same land. 

" Another title is, that all the clergie of this realm assembled at Armagh, at the 
time of the Conquest, upon the comming over of Englishmen, our forefathers ; and 
there it was decreed and deemed by them, that through the sin of the people of the 
land, by the sentence of God, the mischief of the Conquest them befell. 

" Another title is, that at the first comming and being of king Richard the second 
in Ireland, at the citie of DubUn, and other places of the land, there came unto him, 
with their own good wills, O'Neyle, captain of the Irishmen of Ulster, O'Breene, of 
Thomond, O'Connor of Connaught, Arthur Mac Morchie, captain of Irishmen in 
Leinster, and all captains of Irishmen of Ireland, and became liege men to the said 
king Richard, and to him did homage and fealty : and for the more greater suertie 
bound themselves in great summes of money, by divers instruments, in case they 
did not truly keep and hold their allegiance in the forme aforesaid : and therefore, 
sayeth this clerke, that from the beginning of his time, which was about three hun- 
dred and four score years past, GOOD IS THE KING OF ENGLAND'S 
TITLE AND RIGHT TO THE LAND AND LORDSHIP OF IRELAND." 
— Statutes, 231. 



100 VINDICLE HIBERNICE. 

the islands of the Orcades, returning, crowned with laurels, from a 
great victory obtained in Denmark ! ! ! The Milesian chiefs, wearied 
out with their tedious pilgrimage, and panting after an asylum, where 
they might repose from their labours, besought this powerful prince 
to grant them some place in the west, wherein to settle themselves ! ! 
Having compassion on them, he graciously "by advise of his councell, 
granted them Ireland to inhabite" — and " //lere/bre they should and 
ought to be the king of England'' s men!! T^ 

The migration of the Milesians to Ireland is stated by O'Connor, 
one of the most learned antiquaries of the last centuiy, to have taken 
place eleven hundred years before the Christian era. The act for the 
attainder of O'Nial was passed, as already stated, anno 1568. Thus 
this claim, so cogently urged, was nearly twenty-seven hundred years 
old!! 

This procedure is so revolting to reason, justice, and common sense, 
as to be utterly incredible, did not the statute book, which is dis- 
graced by the act in question, bear ample testimony to its existence. 
A band of Algerines, about to perpetrate some outrageous act of vio- 
lence, and desirous of palliating it by sophistry, could not have de- 
vised a more hollow or fallacious pretence. The whole story of Belan 
and Bayon, and Gurmond and the Orcades is as very a romance, as 
any of the tales which Scheherazade recounted to her dear sister 
Dinarzade, to save herself from decollation. 



CHAPTER VIII. 101 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Religious persecution and persecutors, of every description, deserving 
of the curse of God and man. Comparison between Roman Ca- 
tholic and Protestant persecutors. Gross inconsistency, and, of 
consequence, peculiar turpitude of the latter. 

" To subdue th' unconquerable mind, 
To make one reason have the same effect 
Upon all apprehensions. To force this 
And that man to think just as I do — 
Impossible ! Unless souls, which differ 
Like human faces, were alike in all." — Rowe. 

Religious persecution is one of the greatest stains attached to hu- 
man nature. It is in hostility with the most clear and explicit doc- 
trines of Jesus Christ; and its absurdity is about equal to its wicked- 
ness ; as it supposes, what never was, and never can be, that men can 
change their belief at will, as they can change their dress. But our 
opinions are as independent of our volition, except where reason comes 
in to aid in the change, as our complexion or our height. Wherever 
or by whomsoever perpetrated, this odious offence, and its perpetra- 
tois, merit the curse of God and man. It makes no difference in the 
eye of Heaven whether the victim have been or may be fined, impri- 
soned, or immolated at Madrid, in Paris, in London, or Dublin : it is 
a crime for which there never was, nor can ever be, any apology or 
extenuation, and which in a peculiar degree cries to Heaven for ven- 
geance. 

That every man has a right, inherent and indefeasible, to worship 
God according to the dictates of his conscience, provided they do not 
lead to the commission of crimes, is one of those eternal maxims, to 
■w4iich man, in every clirae, unsophisticated by religious establish- 
ments, must bear testimony. The time, it is to be hoped, will arrive, 
when it will be a subject of astonishment, and appear wholly incredi- 
ble, that it could have ever entered into the mind of any human being 
to coerce the religious opinions of his fellow men — or that he could 
have been so supremely wicked as to punish them, with fine, impri- 
sonment, or death for the conscientious discharge of their religious 
duties. 

The degree of the atrocity of crimes often depends upon various 
circumstances of time, place, and person. An act perpetrated at one 
time, by a certain person, or under certain circumstances, would be far 
more indefensible, than if perpetrated at another time, by another per- 
son, or under different circumstances. 

Thus it is with religious persecution. It is, I repeat, at all times 
and in all places, deserving of abhorrence and execration. But it had 
a peculiar malignity and turpitude when perpetrated by the reformers. 
To be satisfied of this truth, requires but a small degree of reflection 
and candour. 



102 VINDICLE HIBERNIC.f:. 

To cluculate this point, 1 shall select the cases of two nations, 
France and En<^laiKl — tlie former, at the moment when ("alvinism was 
first broached there — the latter after the reformed religion was esta- 
blished. 

At that time the lloman Catholic religion universally prevailed in 
France. It rested on the authority of general conncils, composed of 
bishops and priests convened from every part of Christendom. Those 
councils are by Catholics universally believed to be infallible: and 
tlieir religion is regarded as emanating from Jesns ("hrist hiinself, and 
the same as that taught by his apostles and disciples. It is wholly 
foreign from my purpose, to discuss the question whether these opi- 
nions were just or the contrary. Whatever decision that question 
might receive, would not in the slightest degree affect the argument. 
They believed that all innovations were heresies and schisms, and de- 
serving of punishment. However lamentable and unjustifiable, there- 
fore, it may be, it is not very wonderful, that they had recourse to 
pains and penalties to prevent the spread of what they regarded as 
pestiferous innovations. 

Hut the case of England was incalculably different. The great 
basis of the reformation rested on the righi of every man to interpret 
the Scriptures lor himself, unfettered by the decrees of popes, or 
councils, or synods. On the Protestant standard was imprinted, in 
conspicuous characters — " Search the Scriptures. There tlie rule of 
faith is distinctly developed." The reformers, therefore, having duly 
searched the Scriptures — abandoned, from conscientious motives, the 
religion of their ancestors and of their youth — and chosen a religion 
for themselves — it would appear that nothing but insanity could have 
led them to suppose that they had any right to control their neighbours' 
religious opinions, or that their neigjibouis did not possess an equal 
right with themselves, either to choose a new religion, or to adhere to 
the old, as their conscience might prescribe. Yet in opposition to 
these plain dictates of reason and common sense, the voice of history 
proclaims, that in England, and indeed in almost evci*y part of Europe, 
the reformers, when possessed of power, persecuted not merely the 
followers of the old religion, but even those, who, like themselves, 
had abandoned that religion, but chosen a dilVerent system from th^r 
own ! This is a fertile topic — but 1 shall only for tlie present refer, 
for confirmation of these positions, to the noyades in Switzerland — 
the proceedings of the synod of Dort in Holland — and more particu- 
larly to the horrible persecutions of the Quakers in England — and of 
the Covenanters in Scotland, by Lauderdale and Archhishop Sharp, 
the latter of which were not exceeded by those of the Vaudois and 
All)igenses, 

I trust, therefore, it will appear as clear as the noon-day sun, that 
the persecuting reformer was far more culpable than the persecuting 
Roman Catholic, odious as the latter undoubtedly was. To the native 
and inherent turpitude of one of the most hideous crimes — a crime 
offering outrage to the mild dictates of the religion both descriptions of 
Christians professed — the former added the grossest inconsistency — 
the most direct violation of the vital and fundamental principle on 
which his religion was established. 

It hence follows, although every inquisitor, whether a resident of 
London or Madrid, of Tjsbon, Chisgow, or Dublin, ought, by the lex 



CHAPTER Vlir. 103 

talionis, to have been scourged wiUi his own hish, hung on his own 
gibbet, impaled on his own stake, or roasted with his own I'aggot, that 
if it were possible to make a scale in which a due proportion should 
be observed between the crime and the punishment, the Reforming 
persecutor might lay claim to a proud pre-eminence over the Roman 
Catholic. 

Bearing these strong truths in mind, let us cast a glance at the per- 
secution of the Irish Roman Catholics, and we shall tnid that it bears 
imprinted on its forehead the unerring mark of anti-christ ; for after 
the hundreds of volumes employed in investigating who, and what, 
and where is anti-christ, I am fully persuaded, that the true and 
genuine anti-christ is religious persecution ; that every persecutor, of 
whatever denomination, was a lineal descendant of anti-christ ; and 
that religious persecution, in all its shapes and forms, whether exer- 
cised by Dioclesian at Rome, Mahomet at Mecca, Dominic at Ma- 
drid, Charles IX. at Paris, Calvin at Geneva, Knox in Edinburgh, Mary 
in England, or Elizabeth in Ireland, was utterly antichristian. 

At the accession of Elizabeth to the throne of England, the Roman 
Catholic religion was professed by the Irish nation, with scarcely an 
exception. There was not one of any other denomination for every 
ten thousand Catholics. Throughout three-fourths of the island there 
was not a Pi-otestant in existence, and the mass of the nation knew 
not what the word meant. In such a state of things, so utterly in- 
auspicious for her views. Queen Elizabeth, head of the Church of 
England, conceived the preposterous and unholy design of subjecting 
the exercise of the Roman Catholic religion in Ireland, to the most 
oppressive penalties and forfeitures, by act of the parliament of that 
country ! ! ! 

The wickedness of this act could only be equalled by the turpitude of 
the means by which it was accomplished. I have shown in page 94, 
the flagitious mode in which Sussex* packed the pailiament of 1560, 
convened merely for the purpose of passing it. One half of the nation, 
I repeat, was disfranchised — and in the other half, corruption, intrigue, 
and undue influence secured for the government a majority of those 
who composed the parliament. But for this vile system of fraud, it 
would have been quite as difficult to pass this act in Ireland, as it would 
be at the present hour to pass an act in the British parliament to esta- 
blish the worship of the sun, or to substitute the Koran for the book 
of common prayer, or in America to pass an act renouncing our inde- 
pendence and submitting to be re-colonized. 

Seventy-six men\ — tell it not in Gath, publish it not in Ascalon — 
of whom many were corruptly smuggled into parliament, in violation 
of the law of the land, as well as of every principle of honour and 
justice — some of them foreigners without any pretensions to a seat in 
the legislature — seventy-six men, I say, subjected an entire nation to 

* The real representatives of tli^ people made an unavailing struggle against this 
act. They were outvoted. " So much had Sussex been alarmed by the opposition 
he had encountered in this parliament, that he dissolved it in a few weeks." — 
Lelaxp, II. 274. 

f The reader will bear in mind that in the parliament of 1 560, there were in the 
House of Commons only the paltry number of seventy-six members, most of them 
fraudulently chosen. 



104 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

pains and penalties for the exercise of the religion of their ancestors— 
for the worship of God according to the dictates of their consciences, 
and attempted to dragoon them to adopt doctrines which they imper- 
fectly understood, and which they abhorred. To aggravate the enormity 
of the offence, were it susceptible of aggravation, this high-handed act 
of persecution and despotism was perpetrated at a period when Europe 
resounded with the most virulent and clamorous abuse of the Roman 
Catholics for their persecuting spirit — a grievance which assumed a 
prominent place among the causes that led to a separation. " Thou 
hypocrite," says Jesus Christ, " first cast out the beam out of thine own 
eye — and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy 
brother's eye." 

This act, thus surieptitiously obtained, thus repugnant to true 
Christianity, has been the fruitful source of a large portion of the sub- 
sequent oppression, misery, wretchedness, slaughter, and confiscation 
which appear so conspicuously in the blood-stained annals of Ireland. 
It made Helots of the mass of the nation, and laid them prostrate, tied 
hand and foot, at the mercy of an unfeeling, cruel, and intolerant aris- 
tocracy, in whom it fostered into the most baleful luxuriance all the 
hateful passions, which germinate so prodigally whenever society is 
divided into two classes, of which one possesses uncontrolled power 
over the other. 

I annex a sketch of some of the leading features of this odious 
act: — 

I. Any clergyman who refused to use the common prayer in his 
church, or who used any other form of worship, rite, ceremony, or 
manner of celebrating the Lord's supper, openly or privily, than was 
mentioned in the said book of common prayer, was to forfeit all the 
profit or income of his benefice for one ivhole year, and also suffer 
imprisonment for six months ! 

II. For the second offence, he was to forfeit his income for ever, 
and suffer imprisonment for one year! 

III. For the third offence he was to suffer imprisonment for life! 
Thus a Roman Catholic, or even a Protestant dissenting clergyman 

who three times worshipped God according to the dictates of his con- 
science, was to be incarcerated for life, under the glorious light of the 
Reformation, which, we are vauntingly told, dispelled the Cimmerian 
darkness with which the Christian world had been overspread by 
popery for so many centuries ! 

IV. Laymen for the first offence were to undergo imprisonment 
for one year — and, for the second, imprisonment for life! 

V. Any person, who dared, by any interludes, plays, songs, rhirnes, 
or by other open ivords, declare or speak anything in derogation of the 
book of common prayer, or interrupt any clergyman in the use of it, 
for the first offence was subject to a fine of one hundred marks — for 
the second, four hundred; and for the third offence, was io forfeit all 
his goods and chattels, and suffer imprisonment for life ! 

Here, again, we see the glorious light of the Reformation beaming 
on a benighted world. The best man in Ireland, a Socrates, an Aris- 
tides, or a Washington, if he dared three times to speak in derogation 
of the common prayer, was liable to imprisonment for life! ! 

VI. Every person in the kingdom, absenting himself from the 
" usual place where common prayer was used," on Sundays and Holi- 



CHAPTER VIII. 105 

days, was subject to a fine of twelve pence, and to the censures of the 
church. 

Supposing only eight holidays in the year, each individual who did 
not attend what he regarded as an heretical worship, was liable to a 
penalty of three pounds per annum. To those with a family of two 
persons, an addition would be made of six pounds. This, at the then 
value of money, was worth about 100/. sterling* at present, or four 
hundred and fifty dollars. To this enormous annual penalty, a man 
with a wife, and a single child, arrived at maturity, was liable, for 
obeying the dictates of his conscience ! Such was the Christian and 
liberal spirit of toleration in the halcyon days of Elizabeth — and such 
was the exact conformity between profession and practice. 

VII. By another clause, the queen, or the lord deputy, or other 
governor or governors of Ireland, were authorized, with the advice of 
council, to publish such further ceremonies or rites, as they might 
judge proper, for the advancement of God's glory, the edifying of the 
church, and the due reverence of Christ's holy mysteries and sacra- 
ments, f 

• In a work of reputation, it is stated, that the value of money was twelve times 
as great in 1800 as in 1530. The change from 1530 to 1560 was inconsiderable. 

"|- " If any manner of person, vicar or other whatsoever minister that ought or 
should sing or say common-prayer mentioned in the said book, or minister the sacra- 
ments, from and after the feast of Saint John the Baptist aforesaid, refuse to use the 
said common-prayers or to minister the sacraments in such cathedral or parish 
church or olSler places as he should use to minister the same, in such order and form 
as they be mentioned and set forth in the said book, or shall wilfully or obstinately 
standing in the same, use any other rite, ceremony, order, forme, or manner of cele- 
brating of the Lord's Supper openly or privily, or mattens, or evensong, administra- 
tion of the sacraments, or other open prayers than is mentioned and set forth in the 
said book,t or shall preach, declare, or speake, any thing in the derogation or de- 
praving of the said book, or any thing therein conteyned, or of any part thereof, and 
shall be thereof lawfully convicted according to the lawesof this realm, by verdict of 
twelve men, or by his own confession, or by the notorious evidence of the fact, 
shall lose and forfeit to the queens hig-hness,her heires and successors, for his first 
offence the profit of all his spirittiall benefices or promotions, camming or arising 
in one xvhole year, next after his conviction, and also the person so convicted, shall 
for the same offence suffer i7nprisonment, by the space of six monthes loithout bayle 
or mainprise ; and if any such person once convicted of any offence concerning the 
piemises, shall after his first conviction eftsoones offend, and be thereof in forme 
aforesaid lawfully convict, that then the same person shall for his second offence 
suffer imprisonment by the space of one -whole year, and after shall therefore be 
deprived, (ipso facto,) of all his spiritual promotions; and that it shall be lawfull to 
all patrons or donours of all and singular the same spirituall promotions, or any of 
them, to present or collate unto the same, as though the person or persons so offend- 
ing were dead, and that if any such person or persons, after he shall be twice con- 
victed in the forme aforesaid, shall offend against any of the premisses in the third 
time, and shall be thereof in forme aforesaid, lawfully convicted, that then the per- 
son so offending and convicted the third time, shall be deprived, (ipso facto,) of all 
his spirituall promotions, and also shall suffer imprisonment during his life : and 
if the person that shall offend and be convict in forme aforesaid, concerning any of 
the premisses, shall not be beneficed, nor have any spirituall promotion, that the 
same person so offending and convict, shall for the first offence suffer imprisonment 
{luring one whole year next SiheT his said conviction without bayle or mainprise: 
and if any ^ch person, not having any spirituall promotion, after his first convic- 

^ " Open prayer in and throughout this act, is meant that prayer which is for others 
to eome unto, or hear, either in common churches or privy chappels, or oratories, com- 
monly called the service of the church." 

14 



106 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC.E. 

On the sixth item, some remarks are imperiously called for. The 
" censures of the church" to which those were subject, who did not 
attend a church where the common prayer was used, were a tremen- 
dous instrument of tyranny and rapine. According to Bishop Bedell, 
" the officers of the court 'thought they had a aort of right to oppress 

tion shall cftsooncs offend in any thing concerning the premisses, and shall, in forme 
aforesaid, be thereof lawfully convicted, that then the same person shall for his 
second offence silver imprisonment during his life. And it is ordeyned and enact- 
ed by the authority abovesaid that if any person or persons whatsoever after the 
feast of Saint John Baptist, shall in any enterludes, playcs, songs, rimes, or by 
other open words, declare or speake any thing in derogation, depraving or despising 
of the same book, or of any thing therein contained, or any part thereof, or shall by 
open fact, deed, or by open threatenings compel!, or cause, or otherwise procure or 
maintaine any person, vicar, or other minister in any cathedral or parish church, or 
in chappel or in any other place, to sing or say any common open prayer, or to 
minister any sacrament otherwise or in any other maner and forme than is men- 
tioned in the said book, or that by any of the said meanes shall unlawfully interrupt, 
or let any person, vicar, or other minister, in any cathedral or paroch church, chap- 
pell, or any other place, to sing or say, common and open prayer, or to minister the 
sacraments or any of them in such manner and forme as is mentioned in the said 
book, that then every such person being thereof lawfully convicted in forme above- 
said, shall forfeit to the queen our sovereign lady her hey res and successors ybr the 
first offence an hundred markes. And if any person or persons being once con- 
vict of any such offence eftsoones offend against any of the said recited offences, and 
shall in forme aforesaid be thereof lawfully convict, that then the same person so of- 
fending and convict shall for the second offence forfeit to the queen our sovereign 
lady, her heyres and successoursyb?*?' hundred marks, and if any person after he in 
forme aforesaid shall have been twice convict of any offence concerning any of the 
last recited offences, shall offend the third time, and be thereof in forme aforesaid 
lawfully convict, that then every person so offending and convict, shall for his third 
vffence, forfeit to our sovereign lady the qiieen, all his goods and chattels, and 
shall suffer imprisonment during his life, 

" All and every person and persons inhabiting within this realm, shall diligently 
and faithfully, having no lavvfull or reasonable excuse to be absent, endeavour them- 
selves to resort to their paroch church or chappel accostumed, or upon reasonable let 
thereof, to some usuall place where common prayer and such service of God shall 
be used in such time of let upon every Sunday and other dayes ordeyned and used 
to be kept as holy dales ; and then and there to abide orderly and soberly, during the 
time of the common prayer, preachings, or other service of God, there to be used and 
ministrcd upon pain of puiiishinent by the censures of the church, and also upon 
pain that everie person so offending, shall forfeit for every such offence tioelve 
pence, to be levied by the church-wardens of the paroch where such offence shall be 
done, to the use of the poore of the same paroch, of the goods, lands, and tene- 
ments of such offendour by way of distresse. 

" The queen's majestic by the like advice of the said commissioners, or the lord 
deputie, or other governor or governors of this realm for the time being, may, with 
the advise of the counsaile of this realm, ordeine a7id publish such further ceremo- 
nies or rites as may be most for the advancement of God's glorie, the edifying of 
this church and the due reverence of Christ's holy mysteries arid sacraments .'.' 

" And forasmuch as in most places of this realm, there cannot be found English 
ministers to serve in the churches or places appointed for common prayer or to 
minister the sacraments to the people, and that if some good men were provided that 
they might use the prayer, service and administration of sacraments set out and esta- 
blished by this act, in such language as they mought best understand ; the due 
honour of God should be thereby much advanced, and for that also that the same 
may not be in their native language, as well for difficulty to get it printed, as that 
few in the whole realn? can read the Irish letters : we doe therefore^iost humbly 
beseech your majesty that with your highness favour and royall assent, it may be 
enacted, ordeyned, established, and provided, by the authority of this present parlia- 
ment, that in every such church or place, where the common minister or priest hath 



CHAPTER VIII. 107 

the natives, and that all was well got, that was wrung from them.'''' 
[Life of Bedell, 89.] The good bishop's account of this formidable 
court, at full length, may be seen in a future chapter. 

The history of persecution presents no case more antichristian than 
this. In every other country where the demoniac spirit of persecution 
raged, the ruling party and the persecuted used the same language. 
Thus, when the Roman Catholics of France repealed the edict of 
Nantes, and commenced that barbarous persecution of the Hugonots, 
which, for its impolicy as well as its wickedness, has consigned the 
memory of Louis XIV. and his bigoted counsellors, to the execration of 
posterity, the Roman Catholic pastor could impart instruction to the 
Hugbnot, if the latter were compelled to attend service in one of the 
established churches, and the Hugonot could as perfectly understand 
him as he could a pastor of his own denomination. The Roman 
Catholic in England, and the Presbyterian in Scotland, when subject 
to penalties for not attending worship in the Protestant Episcopalian 
churches, could not plead ignorance of the language of their instructors. 
But in Ireland the Roman Catholics were subject to penalties for not 
attending the sermons and exhortations of clergymen whose language 
not one in five hundred of them understood, and who were equally ig- 
norant of the language of their flock ! ! ! ! ! 

The transcendent folly and wickedness of this system must strike 
the most superficial observer at a glance. Spenser placed its futility 
in so clear a light, that nothing but the blind bigotry and the intoler- 
ant spirit of that age could have overlooked it. " What good,^' he 
emphatically asks, " should any English minister do amongst them, 
by teaching or preaching to them, which either catmot understand 
him, or will not heare Aim ?"— Spenser, 142. 

To cap the climax of folly, this very act staled the important fact, 
that "in most places of this realm, there cannot be found English 
ministers to serve in the churches, or places, appointed for common 
prayer, or to minister the sacraments to the people! !" it therefore di- 
rected that " some good men should be provided to use the prayer, 
service and administration of sacraments, in such language as they 
mought best understand." And further, that where the minister did 
not understand English, he might " say and use the mattens, even- 
song, celebration of the Lord's supper, and administration of each of 
the sacraments, and all their open and common prayer in the Latin 
tongue." 

It would be endless to point out all the absurdities of this system. 
The law was ordered to be put in force on the festival of John Bap- 
tist next ensuing its enaction, that is, in three or four months, without 
any adequate provision of ministers or books for the purpose, which it 
was impossible to supply in so short a space ! ! 

It has been said that this act was not enforced, and that it was a 
mere dead letter. This is a very great error. It was as rigorously en- 

—••»«©©«"— 

not the use or knotuledge of the English tongue, it shall be lawfull for the same 
common minister or priest to say and use the mattens, evensong, and celebration of 
the Lord's Supper, and administration of each of the sacraments, and all their com- 
mon and open prayer in the Latin tongue, in such order and form as they be men- 
tioned and set forth in the said book established by this act, and according to the 
tenour of thi» act, and none otherwise, nor in other manner." — Statutes, 201. 



108 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 

forced, as it was unjustly enacted.* The fines for non-attendance at 
church, were rigidly exacted. — The people, believing that attendance 
once a day, would be a compliance with the law, went in the evening 
to church, to hear the common prayer, and in the morning to their own 
places of worship. This partial evasion of the law attracted the atten- 
tion of their tyrannical governors, who, to prevent it, had the roll 
called morning and evening.t This arbitrary and vexatious system 
was adopted so early as 1563, only three years after the enaction of 
the law ! ! 

— "►V« ©©+«»— 

• " 1578. The lord deputy bound several citizens by recognisance of forty peun4s 
to come to church to hear divine service every Sunday, pursuant to the queen's in- 
junctions." — Cox, 354. 

•j- " A tax was laid on every house-keeper, who omitted corning to church on 
Sundays, and it was collected exactly, so that many came to church, rather than 
they wou'd pay that tax : at first they -went to mass in the morning, and to church 
in the afternoon ; but to prevent that, a roul of the house-keepers names was called 
over by the church'ivardetis in every parish," — Ware, Eliz, 8. 



CHAPTER IX. 109 



CHAPTER IX. 

Sacrilegious robbery of the Catholic churches. Gross abuses in the 
established church. Bishops utterly negligent of their duties. 
Churches either unsupplied with pastors, or supplied with those of 
scandalous insufficiency in point of acquirements, and of most 
dissolute morals. 

" Let holy rage, let persecution cease — 
Let tjie head argue — but the heart be peace — 
Let all mankind in love of what is right, 
In virtue and humanity unite." — Thomsoit. 

" Ne'er yet did persecution's offspring thrive, 
For the forc'd heart, submitting, still resists. 
Reason gedns all men, by compelling none." — Hill. 

In the preceding chapter, I have detailed the anti-christian spirit of 
persecution by which Elizabeth and her ministers were actuated in 
the attempt to abolish at once the exercise of the ancient religion of the 
country by heavy pains and penalties. It now remains to show 
what success attended the attempt — what were the merits and virtues 
of the new clergy — what zeal and disinterestedness they displayed in 
overcoming the attachment of the people to the old forms of worship, 
and winning them over to the new. And here, I regret to find, that 
there is nothing to be seen but what excites disgust at the folly and 
wickedness of the government, in tearing down, and, as far as in their 
power, destroying an old system, without any adequate effort to pro- 
vide a suitable substitute. 

The reformation, whatever may have been its operation in other 
countries, produced the most deleterious consequences in Ireland. 
One of the first fruits of it was to expel the old clergy from the churches 
without supplying their places with successors.* Another was a sa- 
crilegious robbery of the Catholic churches, which were generally des- 
poiled of their furniture and ornaments, by persons appointed to re- 
move crucifixes, mass books, and other articles from them. The spoils 
were publicly sold by the plunderers for their benefit.! To this rapine 

* " The clergy, who refused to conform, abandoned their cures. JVo reformed 
ministers could bejound to supply their places. The churches fell to ruins. The 
people -were left -without any religio^is -worship or instruction /" — Leland, II. 274. 

-}■ " The prejudices conceived against the reformation, by the Irish natives more es- 
pecially, were still further encreased by the conduct of those who were commission- 
ed to remove the objects and instruments of popular superstition. Under pretence 
of obeying the orders of state, they seized all the most valuable furniture of the 
churches, -which they exposed to sale -without decency or reserve ! The Irish an- 
nalists pathetically describe the garrison of Athlone issuing forth, with a barbaroua 
and heathen fury, and pillaging the famous church of Clonmacnoise, tearing away 
the most inoffensive ornaments, books, bells, plate, windows, furniture of every kind, 
so as to leave the shrine of their favourite saint, Kieran, a hideous monument of sa- 
crilege," — Leland, II. 237. 



110 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC.E. 

they were encouraged by the hostility so openly manifested towards 
the old church by their intolerant rulers. This unholy proceeding was 
carried to such a profligate length, that it was finally found necessary 
to pass an act to prevent it. 

This stain, deep as it was, formed but a small portion of the evil. 
The estabUshed church, for seventy years at least — how much later 
I cannot determine — was disgraced and dishonoured in every possible 
way in which disgrace and dishonour can attach to the professors of 
religion. The bishops, with few exceptions, were regardless of every 
thing except the emoluments of their high stations. They held num- 
bers of benefices in commendam ; left more than half of the churches 
absolutely unprovided with pastors ; and filled others with persons of 
scandalous insufficiency, not merely in point of acquirements, but in 
respect to morals. ' They let their servants and horse-boys collect the 
tithes and first fruits.^ The pastors and curates were generally disso- 
lute and abandoned — guilty of simony and other crimes — and unmind- 
ful of the duties of their sacred functions. 

In one word, from the utter mismanagement of the established 
church, it would almost appear, I repeat, that the object of the govern- 
ment was to abolish the old religion, regardless whether its place were 
supplied with any other. 

This is a strong accusation, and requires, to be established by good 
authority, to gain credence with the mass of the community who are 
persuaded that a diametrically opposite result was produced. 

To remove all possibility of doubt on the subject, I annex the testi- 
mony of Spenser, 2 Sydney, 3 Hooker,'^ Davies,* and Strafford,^ all 

1 " Some of them, (the bishops,) whose dioceses are in remote parts, somewhat 
out of the world's eye, doe not at all bestow the betiefices, -which are in their oivne 
donation, upon any, but keep them in their oivne hU7ids, and set their oivne ser- 
■vants a7id horse-boys to take up the tithes and fruites of them, -with the which, 
some of them purchase great lands, and build faire castels upon the same. Of 
which abuse if any question be moved, they have a very scemely colour and excuse 
that they have no worthy ministers to bestow them upon, but keepe them so be- 
stowed for any such sufficient person as any shall bring unto them." — Spenser, 140. 

2 " Whatever disorders you see in the church of England, yce may finde there, 
and many more. Namely, grosse simony, greedy covetousnesse, fleshly inconti- 
nency, carelesse sloath, and generally all disordered life in the common clergymen. 
And besides all these, they have their particular enormityes ; for all Irish priests, 
which now enjoy the church livings, they are in a manner meere laymeii, saving 
that they have taken holy orders ; but otherwise they doe goe and live like laymen ; 
follow all kinde of husbandry, and other worldly affaires, as other Irish men doe. 
They neither read Scriptures, nor preach to the people, nor administer the com- 
munion ; but baptisme they doe ; for they christen yet after the popish fashion ; 
only they take the tithes and offerings, and gather what fndte else they may of 
their livings." — Idem, 139. 

" It is great wonder to see the oddes which is between the zeale of popish priests, 
and the ministers of the gospell ; for they spare not to come out of Spaine, from 
Rome, and from Remes, by long toyle and daungerous travayling hither, where they 
know perill of death awayteth them, and no reward or richesse is to be found, onely 
to draw the people unto the church of Rome ; whereas some of our idle ministers, 
having a way for credite and estimation thereby opened unto them, and having the 
livings of the countrey offered unto them, without paines, and without perill, will 
neither for the same, nor any love of God, nor zeale of religion, or for all the good 
they may doc, by winning soules to God, bee drawne foorth from their warme 
neastes, to looke out into God's, harvest, which is even ready for the sickle, and all 
the fields yellow long agoe." — Idem, 254. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Ill 



cotemporaries of the state of things I have depicted. This testimony 
embraces the period from the commencement of the reformation in 



3 



1576. "The first is, the churche nowe so spoyled, as well by the ruine of the 
temples, as the dicipacion and imbeaselinge of the patrimonye, and most of all, for 
want of sufficient ministers; as so deformed and over throiveji a churche there is 
not, I am sure, in any region -where Christ is professed ; and preposterous it seam- 

eth to me, to begin reformacion of the pollitique parte, and to neglect the religious." 

Sydnet, I. 109. 

'; I was advertized of the perticuler estate of ech churche in the bishopricke of 
Meithe, (being the best inhabited countrie of all this realme,) by the honest, zealous, 
and learned bishop of the same, Mr. Hugh Bradye, a godlye minister for the gospell', 
and a good sarvaunt to yourhighnes, who went from churche to churche hym selfe, 
and found, that there are within his dioces 224 parrishe churches, of which nimiber 
one hmulred and five are impropriated t't sondrie possessions, 7io-we of your high- 
nes, and all leased out for yeares, or in fee farme, to severall farmers, and great 
gayne reaped out of theim above the rent, which your majestic receivethe ; no par- 
son, or vicar, resident upon any of theim, and a very simple or sorrye curat, for 
the most parte, appointed to serve theim : amonge which nomber of curatts, onely 
eightene xuere found able to speake English." 

" No one howse standinge for any of theim to dwell in. In maney places, the 
very walles of the churches doune ; verie few chauncells covered, wyndowes'and 
dores ruyned, or spoyled. There are 52 other parishe churches in the same dioces, 
who have viccars indued upon theim, better served and maynteined then the other', 
yet but badlye. There are 52 parishe churches more, residue of the first nomber of 
224, which perteine to dyvers perticuler lords, and these though in better estate, 
then the rest commonlye are, yet farre from well. If this he the estate of the 
churche in the best peopled dyoces, and best governed countrie, of this your realme, 
(as in troth it is ;) easye it is for your majestie to conjecture, in what case the rest 
IS, where little or no reformation, either of religion or manners, hath yet bene plant- 
ed, and contynued amonge theime." — Stdnet, I. 112. 

_ " Uppon the face of the earthe, where Christ is professed, there is not a churche 
m so miserable a case ; the miserye of whiche consistethe in thiese three particulars, 
the ruyne of the verie temples theimselves ; the want of good mynisters to serve in 
theim, when they shallbe reedified ; competent lyvinge for the ministers beinge wel 
chosen." — Ibid. 

4 " And though the outrages in the civill government were great, yet nothing to 
be compared to the ecclesiastical state, for that was too far out of order, the temples 
all mined, the parish churches for the most part tvithout curates and pastors, no 
service said, no God honoured, nor Christ preached, nor sacraments ministered:' 
— Hooker, apud HoLLiNSHEn, VI. 382. 

5 " There has been so little care taken, as that the greatest part of the churches 
withm the pale be still in their ruins; so as the common people, (whereof many 
without doubt, would conform themselves,) have no place to resort to, -where they 
may hear divine service." — Daties, 240. 

6 " For the holding of two livings, and but two with cure, since you approve me 
in the substance, I will yield to you in the circumstance of time. Indeed, my lord 
/ rc7iew it -ivas bad, very bad in Ireland; but that it -was so stark nought I did 
not believe; six benefts not able to find the minister cloaths ! In six parishes 
tcarce six to co?ne to church .'.'.'.'" — STnAFroRi), I. 254. 

"•riie best entrance to the cure, will be clearly to discover the state of the patient, 
which 1 fand many ways distempered ; an 7inlearned clergy, -who have not so much 
as the out-ward Jorm of churchmen to cover themselves -with, nor their persons any 
ways reverenced or protected, the churches unbuilt, the parsonage and vicarage houses 
utterly ruined ; the people untaught tliorough the non-residency of the clergy, 
occasioned by Me unUmited shameful numbers of spiritual promotions -with cure 
oj souls, -which they liold by commendams ; the rites and ceremonies of the church 
run over without all decency of habit, order, or gravity, in the course of their 
service ; the possessions of the church, to a great proportion, in lay hands ; the 
bishops aliening their very principal Jiouses and demesnes to their children to 
strangers, farming out their Jurisdictions to mean and un-worthy persons ■ the 
popish titulars exercising the whilst a foreign jurisdiction much greater than theirs." 
— Idem, 187. 



112 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^. 

Ireland in 1560 until the year 1630. To this I add that of Burnet/ 
Carte, ^ and Leland,^ protestant historians of the last century, all bear- 
ing on the same subject with irresistible force, and exhibiting as deplo- 
rable and disgraceful a state of the established church as can well be 
conceived. The aggregate of the evidence so overwhelmingly estab- 
lish my positions, as for ever to silence all cavil, and command the 
assent of every reader, with the slightest pretensions to candour, to 
whatever nation, party, or religion, he may adhere. 

Sydney has recorded a detail of the state of the diocess of Meath, 
one of the best regulated in the kingdom, fiom which a tolerably cor- 
rect idea may be formed of the state of the church generally. In that- 
diocess there were 234 parish churches, of which 105 were impropri- 
ated to different possessions — not a parson or vicar to any one of them 
— to some " a sorry curate." Of the whole number of curates, only 
eighteen could speak English. Of the remaining churches 52 belonged 
to particular lords. 

— ...►»© ©©«« — 

7 "There are seven or eight ministers in each diocess of good sufficiency; and 
(which is no small cause of the continuance of the people in Popery still,) English, 
which have not the tongue of the people, 7ior can perform any divine offices, or 
converse with them; and which hold many of them tivo or three or more vicarages 
apiece ; even the clerkships themselves are in like manner conferred upon the Eng- 
lish, and sometimes two or three, or more, upon one man, and ordinarily bought 
and sold or let to farmT — Burnet's Life of Bedell, 46. 

8 " As scandalous livings naturally make scandalous ministers, the clergy of the 
established chnrch -were generally igriorant and unlearned, hose and irregular in 
their lives and conversations, negligent of their cures, and very careless of observ- 
ing uniformity and decency nt divine ivorship." — Carte, 1. 68. 

" Nor were the parochial churches in a better condition than the cathedral. They 
had most of them in the country been destroyed in the troubles, or fallen down for 
want of covering; the livings were very small, and either kept in the bishops' hands 
by way of commendams and sequestrations, or else filled with ministers as scandalous 
as their income ; so that scarce any care -was taken to catechise the children, or 
instruct others in the grounds of religion ; and for years together, divine service 
had not been used in any parish church throughout Ulster, except in some city or 
or pri7icipal toivns." — Idem, 17. 

9 " There were few churches to resort to ; few teachers to exhort and instruct ; 
fewer still who could be understood ; and almost all, at least for the greater part 
of this reign, (Elizabeth's,) of scandalous insufficiency.^' — Leland, II. 459. 



CHAPTER X. 113 



CHAPTER X. 

Scandalous libels on the Irish character. Giralchis Cambretisis. 
Sydney. Hooker. Overwhelming favourable testimony. Baron 
Finglass. Edward Coke. Sir John Davies. Stanihurst. Borlase. 
Hookefs inconsistency. 

" They talk as they are wont — not as we merit — 

Traduce by custom, as most dogs do bark. 

Do nothing out of judgment, but disease — 

Speak ill, because they never could speak well — 

And who'd be angry with this race of creatures 1 " — B. JoisrsoN. 

To palliate the grievous oppression under which Ireland groaned 
for centuries, during the existence of what was called peace, as well as 
the horrible system of extirpation pursued by the officers of the 
government, during warfare, the Irish were generally represented as 
incurably barbarous, savage, intolerant of law and order, and only to 
be ruled with a rod of iron. Such has ever been the character drawn 
of their subjects, by cruel and tyrannical rulers when they compelled 
them to resistance by their violence and oppression. 

This motive would sufficiently account for the hideous character 
drawn of the Irish by the English writers, independent of any other 
consideration. But even where no such stimulus exists, the characters 
of nations are rarely drawn correctly by their neighbours, or by inter- 
ested, absurd, ignorant, thoughtless, or prejudiced travellers. This 
kind of obliquity prevails in different portions of a country towards 
the inhabitants of other portions. The Normans and Gascons are 
objects of ridicule throughout the rest of France — the Scotch, notwith- 
standing their many solid virtues as a nation, were, until lately, 
regarded with an evil eye in England, and, at one period, were daily 
objects of the most intemperate and outrageous abuse — and the name 
of a Yorkshireman has long been and is at present proverbial in Eng- 
land for trick and cunning. 

Such partial statements of national or provincial characters, are enti- 
tled to no attention. Who, for instance, can recognise a single feature 
of the American character in the miserable productions of Ash, Fearon, 
Parkinson, Howlett, or the other numerous English travellers who 
have visited this country, apparently with a view of exposing our 
citizens, their manners and customs, to ridicule and contempt? Many 
of their statements are as near the truth as the tales of Major Longbow. 
Who, on the other hand, can discover in the pages of M. Pillet, the 
Fearon of England, a single one of the estimable traits of the existing 
English character — their glowing public spirit — their zeal in defence 
of their country — their laudable charity — their great liberality in the 
promotion of grand public objects — and their unexampled munificence 
in rewarding public services ? There is not a trace of them to be found 
there. 

In like manner, it would be in vain to seek for the true character of 

15 



114 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE, 

the Irish in the hbels of Giraldus Cambrensis,* Sydney,! or in the early 
writings of Hooker4 They were envenomed enemies of the Irish, 
and dipped their pens in the bitterest gall, to depict Ireland and Irish- 
men in the most revolting colours. But had the Irish really deserved 
the character those writers have drawn, it would not be very extraordi- 
nary. The characters of nations are moulded by the nature and 
operations of the government under which they live : and the Irish 
having for centuries groaned under one of the worst governments that 
can be conceived, it must necessarily have tended to deteriorate their 
national character. 

But here the slanderers, who give such hideous accounts of the 
Irish, may be met on the very threshold; and the seal of falsehood 

* " TIds people, being uncerteine, craftie, and subtile, vnder colour of peace 
are tvoont ahvaies to be studeing and deuising of mischiefs, * * * This people 
is a craftie and a subtile people, and more to be feared when it is peace than when 
it is open warres ; for their peace, indeed, is but enimitie, their policies but craft, 
their friendships but coloured." — Giraxdus Cambkensis, apud Hollinshed, VL 
231. 

■f- " Surelie there was never people that lived in more miserie, than they do, nor, 
as it shulde seeme, of -worse myndes ; for matrirnonie emongs them is no more re- 
garded, in effect, then conjunction bet-weene unreasonable beastes. PerjuriCf 
robberie, and murder, counted alloiveable, Finallie, I cannot finde that they make 
any conscience of synne, and doubtlesse, I doubte whether they cristen their children 
or no ; for neither finde I place where it ehulde be don, nor any persone able to 
enstruct them in the rules of a Christian ; or if they were taughte, I see no grace in 
them to follow it ; and -when they dye, I cannot see they make anny accompte of 
the ■world to com." — Stdnet, I. 24. 

# " And here you may see the nature and disposition of this wicked, effrenated, 
barbarous, and unfaithful nation, who, (as Cambrensis writeth of them,) are a 
wicked and perverse generation, constant in that they be always inconstant, faithful 
in that they be always unfaithful, trusty in that they be always treacherous and 
untrusty. They do nothing but imagine mischief, and have no delight in any good 
thing. They are always working wickedness against the good, and such as be quiet 
in the land. Their mouths are full of unrighteousness, and their tongues speak 
nothing but curses. Their feet are swift to shed blood, and their hands imbrued in 
the blood of innocents. The ways of peace they know not, and in the ,paths of 
righteousness they walk not. God is not known in their land ; neither is his name 
called rightly upon among them : their queen and sovereign they obey not ; and 
her government they allow not: but as much as in them lieth, do resist her imperial 
crown and dignity. It was not much above a year past, that Captain Gilbert -with 
the sword so persecuted Ihem, and in justice so executed them, that then they in 
all humbleness submitted themselves, craved pardon, and swore to be for ever true 
and obedient ; for such a perverse nature they are of, that they will be no longer 
honest and obedient, than that they cannot be suffered to be rebels. Such is their 
stubbornness and pride, that with a continual fear it must be bridled ; and such is 
the hardness of their hearts, that with the rod it must still be chastised and subdued ; 
for no longer fear, no longer obedience ; and no longer than they be ruled with 
severity, no longer will they be dutiful and in subjection ; but will be, as they were 
before, false, truce-breakers, and traitorous. Being not much unlike to mercury, 
called quicksilver, which let it by art be ne'er so much altered and transposed, yea 
and] with fire consumed to ashes ; yet let it but rest awhile untouched, nor meddled 
with, it will return again to its own nature, and be the same as it was at the first ; 
and even so, daily experience teacheth it to be true, in these people. For -withdraxu 
the sxvord, and forbear correction, deal with them in courtesie, and intreat them 
gently, if they can take any advantage, they will surely skip out ; and as the dog 
to his vomit, and the sow to the dirt and puddle, they will return to their old and 
former insolence, rebellion, and disobedience." — Hooker, apud Holunshed, VI. 
369. 



CHAPTER X. 115 

stamped on their foreheads in the most legible characters. The evi- 
dence is such as no man living will dare dispute. It is not derived 
from O'SuUivan, O'Connor, O'Halloran, or. Curry. To these writers, 
objections of partiality would be made, by those prejudiced men who 
delight in every thing, however gross, however unjust, that defames 
or destroys the Irish character. The appeal is to Patrick Finglass,* 
Esq. chief baron of the exchequer, under Henry VIIL ; to Coke,t the 
author of the Institutes ; and to Sir John Davies, king James's attor- 
ney-general in Ireland. I 

Yet this is the nation, which, I repeat, the miserable herd of scrib- 
blers who have undertaken its history, have stigmatized, as barbarous, 
savage, and wild. 

The character drawn by these three writers, is true or false. But 
it cannot be false : for no rational man could for a moment suppose that 
these three great public officers of the crown of Engand could conspire 
in uttering falsehoods to flatter the Irish, the Helots of England : and 
if it be true, as it must be, then is it clear that the aspersions cast on 
the Irish character by the other English writers of former times are 
entirely destitute of foundation. 

"The Irish themselves were a people peaceable, harmless, and affable to Strang- 
■ers, and in themselves, and to all, pious and good,ivli.ilst they retain'' d the religion 
of their forefathers." — Borlase, 14. 

In addition to these testimonies, I adduce that of Hooker himself, 
whose description of the Irish, supra, page 114, would exactly suit 
the New Zedanders, or any other of the most barbarous trjbes of 

• Baron Finglass places the Irish character on far higher ground than that of the 
£nglish, so far as respects submission to law and justice : 

" It is a great abusion and reproach, that the laws and statuts made in this lond 
are not observed ne kept, after the making of theme, eight days ; which matter is 
cone of the distractions of Englishmen of this lond : and divers Irisltmen doth 
observe and kepe such laws and statnts, ivhich they make upon hills in their country, 
firm and stable, -without breaking them for any favour or reward." — Hibernica, 51. 

■j- Edward Coke delivers his opinion of the Irish, in a high and encomiastic style 
of commendation : ^ 

" I have been informed by many of those that have had judicial places there, and 
[know] partly of my own knowledge, that THERE IS NO NATION OF THE 
CHRISTIAN WORLD THAT ARE GREATER LOVERS OF JUSTICE 
than they are ; -which virtue must of course be accompanied by many others," — 
Coke, IV. 349. 

^ In pourtraying the Irish character, Sir John Davies displays great candour, an<J 
is likewise highly encomiastic : 

" They will gladly continue in this condition of subjects, without defection, or 
adhering to any other lord or king, as long as they may be protected and justly 
governed, -without oppression on the one side, or impunity 07i the other. For 
THERE IS NO NATION OF PEOPLE UNDER THE SUN THAT 
DOTH LOVE EQUAL AND INDIFFERENT JUSTICE BETTER THAN 
THE IRISH ; or -will rest better satisfied ivith the execution thereof, although it 
be against themselves; so that they may have the protection and benefit of the law, 
■whe7i upon Just cause they do desire it." — Davies, 213. 

" I dare affirm, that in the space of five years last past, there have not been found 
so many malefactors worthy of death, in all the six circuits of this realm, which is 
now divided into thirty-two shires at large, as in one circuit of six shires, namely, 
the western circuit in England. For the truth is, that, in time of peace, the Irish 
are more fearful to offend the la-w than the English, or any other nation ■xvhateo'^ 
ever." — Idem, 300. 



116 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

savages. He subsequently, that is, immediately after the close of the 
administration of Sir John Perrot, draws a character of the Irish, dia- 
metrically opposite to the one already quoted. In the more recent one, 
they appear to very great advantage, and would stand a comparison 
with any cotemporaneous nation. 

" Whereas no man before could passe through the countrie, but was in danger 
to be murdered and robbed, and no man durst to turn his cattell into the fields 
without watch, and to kecpe them in barnes in the night time : now everie man 
■with a -ivhite sticke onelie in his hands, and luith great treasures might and did 
travell -without feare or danger -where lie ivould, (as the writer hereof by triall 
knew it to be true,) and the white sheepe did keepe the blacke, and all the beastes 
laie continuallie in the fields, without any stealing or preieng." — Hookeh, apud 
HOLLINSHED, VI. 370. 

Both characters cannot be true'. If the Irish merited the extrava- 
gant vituperation lavished on them in the first instance, they could not 
possibly deserve the encomiums in the second. The conversions of 
nations, like those of individuals, never were and never can be so very 
rapid. If the administration of Perrot, which continued only a very 
few years, produced so great a reformation, (admitting that the former 
statements of Hooker, although in a great measure caricatures, had 
some degree of foundation,) it proves two points beyond question, that 
is, the facility with which the Irish were rendered amenable to law and 
order — and the execrable nature of the preceding administrations which 
blasted the happiness of such a nation. 

The character drawn of the Irish by Stanihurst, who flourished anno 
1600, although of a very compound nature, as, in truth, all genuine 
characters of nations or individuals must be, is on the whole honourable 
to the nation, and reflects credit on the author for his candour and 
powers of discrimination. 

" The people are thus inclined, religious, franke, amorous, irefull, sufferahle of 
infinite paines, verie glorious, nianie sorcerers, excellent horsemen, delighted with 
wars, great almsgiuers, passing in hospitalitie. The lewder sort, both clearkes and 
laie men, are sensuall, and ouer loose in liuing. The same being vertuouslie bred 
up or reformed, are such mirrors of holiness and austeritie, that other nations re- 
teine but a shadow of deuotion in coinparison of them. As for abstinence and 
fasting, it is to them a familiar kind of chastisement." — Stanihukst, apud Hoxlin- 
SHEI), VI. 67. 

" Greedie of praise they be, and fearefull of dishonour, and to this end they es- 
teeme their poets, who write Irish learnedlie, and pen their sonets heroicall, for the 
which they are bountifullie rewarded; if not, they send out libels in dispraise, where- 
of the lords and gentlemen stand in great awe. They lone tenderlie their foster 
children, and bequeath to them a childes portioii, -whereby they nourish sure 
friendship. So beneficial! euerie waie, that commonlie flue hundred cowes and 
better are giuen in reward to win a noblemans child to foster ; they loue and trust 
their foster brethren more than their owne." — Ibid. 

Stanihurst carries the point very far in regard to the fidelity between 
foster-brethren. 

" You cannot (says he") find one instance of perfidy, deceit, or treachery among 
them ; nay, they are ready to expose themselves to all jnanner of dangers for the 
safety of those -who sucked their mother's milk. You may beat them to a mummy, 
you may put them upon the rack, you may burn them on a gridiron, you may ex- 
pose them to the most exquisite tortures that the cruellest tyrant can invent, yet you 
will never remove them from that innate fideUty, which is grafted in them ; you will 
never induce them to betray their duty." — Ware, II. 73. 

May I not fearlessly ask, is there a nation in Europe, at present, 
when the boasted "school-master is abroad," deserving of a better 



CHAPTER X. 117 

character than this, which derives great additional weigiit from its hav- 
ing been written by an enemy ? 

A candid review of history will prove, the Irish of those days were 
far less barbarous than the English. The latter carried on tlieir bor- 
der wars against the Scotch with a ruthless and infernal ferocity, bar- 
barity and desolation, that will stand a comparison with the so-much- 
detested ravages of the Huns, Goths, and Vandals. Fire and sword 
cleared theii path of everything that fell in their way. To remove all 
doubt on the subject, I submit a specimen of a six day's inroad into 
Scotland, by the Earl of Sussex.* 

It may be fairly questioned, whether a band of demons, escaped 
from the regions of Lucifer, could, witli their utmost activity, in six 
days, have perpetrated more devastation than my Lord Sussex and his 
garrisons had the pleasure of aeoomplishing, upon the unresisting 
Scotchmen, in that space of time. The merit is enhanced ten-fold, by 
the circumstance that it was executed on an unresisting enemy ; and 
this forms the proudest wreath of the laurel crown that entwined the 
brow of the mighty hero ! He ran no risk of his own precious life, 
nor of those of his merciful and heroic followers. To spare the lives 
of his soldiers, is the first duty of a general. That nothing in human 
form ever exceeded the horrors of this exploit, within the time it occu- 
pied, cannot be doubted. Fifty castles and three hundred villages 
consumed in six days! Illustrious achievement! Attila or Genghis 
Khan might have studied the art of desolation to advantage under my 

* " ^ Note of a Journey into Tlvidale, by the Earl of Sussex, her majesty^ s lieu- 
tenant in the north, begun the 17th of April, 1570, and ending the 22d of the 
same. 

"The 17th of April, 1570, the earl of Sussex, and tHi lord Hunsdon, governor of 
Berwick, with all the garrison!?, and power of the east marches, came to Warke, and 
entered into Tividale in Scotland the 18th, at the break of day, and burnt all the 
castles and towns as they ivent, until they came to the castle of Moss, standing in 
a strong marsh, and belonging to the lord of Fernhurst, -which they burnt and 
razed, and so burnt the country until tliey came to Craling. 

" The same day, sir John Foster, with all the garrisons and force of the middle 
marches, entered into Tividale and Expesgate Head, sixteen miles from Warke, and 
so burnt all the country, until they came to a strong castle, in the possession of the 
mother of lord Fernhurst, ivhich he burnt and razed ; and so burnt all the other 
castles and toxvns, until he came to Craling, where both companies met, and so 
went up the river of Tivit, and burnt and threw down all the castles and towns 
upon that river, until they came to Jedworth, where they lodged this day. 

"The 19th, the army was divided into two parts, whereof the one did pass the 
river of Tivit, and burnt and razed tlie castle of Fernhurst, and all other castles 
and towns of the lord of FernJmrst, Hunthill, and Bederoll, and passed on to 
Minte : and the other part of the army burnt in liJce sort on the other side of the 
river Tivit, until he came to Hawick. 

" The 20th, the army went to Branshaw, the lord of Bucklough's house, which 
was wholly overthrown with powder ; and there divided and burnt, on the north of 
the river of Tivit, more into the inland, all tlie castles and towns in that country. 

" The 21st, the army was divided, and one part went to the river of Bowbeat, and 
burnt all on both sides of that river, and the other part went to the river of Caile, 
and burnt all on both sides of tlie river ; all avhich time there was nevek 

AKT SHOW OF KESISTANCE ! ! ! 

" And it is conceived by such as know the enemy's part of Tividale, that there 
are razed, overthrown, and burnt, in this journey, ABOVE FIFTY STRONG 
CASTLES AND PILES, AND ABOVE THREE HUNDRED VILLAGES." 
— Cabala, 174. 



118 VINDICLE HIBERNICE. 

Lord Sussex. With what propriety or decency writers belonging to 
that nation dare to stigmatize the cotemporaneous Irish as savages and 
barbarians, let the world judge. And be it observed, that my Lord 
Scroope made as pleasant an inroad beyond the borders, in a different 
diiection, at the same time ; and equally signalized his humanity and 
his taste for bonfires.* With similar exploits might be filled a dozen 
chapters for the edification of the reader: but I presume it can hardly 
be necessary. Let me, however, without offence, offer a gentle hint 
to Englishmen, and more especially to their writers, that whenever the 
subject of savages and barbarians is started, it would not be improper 
to bear in mind the homely, but instructive proverb, " Men of glass, 
throw no stones." To this lesson, hardly one of them ever pays due 
attention. 

The barbarity of the English warfarp, about that period, was very 
impartially dealt out toother nations besides the Scotch and Irish, who 
had no particular preference. The Frenchf and Spaniards^ were un- 
der equal obligations. 

I now close the bloodstained and heartrending sketches of the his- 
tory of the oppressed Irish for the first four hundred years of English 
domination in their country; and trust there is not a man of common 
candour who will not allow that it is a continued tissue of scenes of 
rapine, fraud, imposture, subornation, perjury, forgery, desolation, mur- 
der, and massacre, hardly relieved by a single oasis occasionally of a 
few years of quasi p^ace. 

* *' The Rode of the Lord Scroope, warden of the west marches of England, into 

Scotland, 

" Who, the 1 7th of April^ at ten of the clock at night, with three thousand horse 
and foot, came to Ellesingham, on the Wednesday at night, and burned that toivn 
in the morning, being from Carlisle twenty miles. On Thursday, he btirned be- 
sides Hoddam, the Maymes, the town, and all the houses, which is the lord Herry- 
es' ; that day they burned Trai/letrow, which is the lord Maxwell's; they burned 
the toivn of Rey-well, which is the lord Copland's and the lord Homeyne's. They 
burned the house of Copewell, and the demesne of the lord Copland's. They 
burned the town of Blackshieve, which is the lord Maxwell's ; item, the toxon of 
Sherrington, of the same; item, the town of Loivzivood, of the same lord's." — Ca- 
bala, 175. 

+ " Twenty days together did the lord Talbot, -with fire and sivord pass through 
Picardy and Artois, destroying all that stood in his -way, and so returneth unen- 

COUNTEREB." DaNIEI,, II. 140. 

"The protector with 25,000 men, entered, burrit, and ransacked Flanders and 
Artois. 

"The earl of Mortaign, son to the duke of Somerset, took by assault St. Avyan, 
and sle-w there 300 Scots, and hanged all the Frenchmen ; because having once 
fworn to king Henry, they revolted." — Whitelocke, Part I. 138. 

i The English, in their invasion of Spain, in the year 1566, committed such 
scenes of havoc and destruction, as would have become a horde of Scythians. 
" The town [Cadiz,] they burnt, saving only the churches. The walls they bat- 
tered, and towers demolished. The island itself they burjied, razed, and spoiled, 
lATiNG ALL WASTE BEFORE THEM, and leaving the rubbish to declare the ruins 
■which the English had made." — Speed, 1198. 

The army, " coming to Vigo, found every street fenced with a strong barricade, 
and but only one man in the town ; the inhabitants making towards Bayon, as fast 
as they could drive. Then was both the town, and all thb countbt fob 

flVKN MILXB COMPASS, BET ON A FLAME." Idem, 1191. 



CHAPTER XI. 119 



PART II. 



FROM 1602 TO 1641. 

Having in the first Part of this work presented a cursory view of the 
state of Ireland to the close of the reign of Elizabeth, I now proceed 
to submit to the reader a sketch of the affairs of the country, from the 
accession of James I. to the commencement of the insurrection of 1641, 
which forms the second division. 

This division is subdivided into seven chapters — 

XL The confiscation of six counties in Ulster. 

XII. The confiscation of 385,000 acres of land in King's and Queen's 
counties, Leitrim, Longfoid, and Westmeath. 

XIII. The base, fraudulent, and deceptions act of indemnity passed 
anno 1613. 

XIV. The graces, as they were styled, solemnly pledged to the Irish 
by Charles I. and perfidiously withheld. * 

XV. The frauds and corniption practised in packing the parliaments 
held in 1613 and 1634. 

XVI. A view of the administration of Lord Strafford generally. 

XVII. The plantation of Connaught. 

XVIII. The pretended security of person and property in Ireland for 
forty years previous to the insurrection, as asserted by Temple, Cla- 
rendon, &c. 



CHAPTER XL 

Pretended plot of Tyrone and Tyrconnel. Lawless and piratical 
depredation of James I. Extensive system of conjiscation. Gross 
partiality and injustice. The doctrine of equivalents. Miserable 
logic of Sir John Davies, attorney-general of Ireland. 

" What a king ought not, that he cannot give. 
And what is more than meet for princes' bounty, 
IS PLUNDER, not a grant."— Young. 

I. Thexonfiscation of six counties in Ulster. 

The unceasing spoliation perpetrated on the Irish, for four hundred 
years by its proconsular governors, from the invasion by Henry II. 
till the reign of James I. was speciously covered, as has appeared in 
the preceding Chapters, with the mantle of rebellion, which was always 
within reach, and an unfailing resource to gratify the avarice, the am- 
bition, and the malignity, of the Irish proconsuls. The deputies of 
the kings of England, or the deputies of those deputies, or even the 
provost marshals, could, at any time, to suit their purposes, excite a 



120 VINDICI^ HIBERNICJE. 

rebellion, or what, in the castle style, was denominated a rebellion* 
Every act of resistance of insult, outrage, or aggression, was thus 
designated in proclamations, and aftei wards in histories. The pre- 
scription was simple. It had been administered times without number, 
and never failed of success. It was only, as I have already stated, to 
make an inroad, or to commit some depredation, on such of the Irish 
nobility or gentry as might be selected for the purpose, the more 
flagrant the better ; provoke them to resistance ; proclaim them traitors ; 
let armies loose to destroy them ; then confiscate their estates, and 
finally hang them as pirates and robbers, by the judgments of the pirates 
and robbers of whom they were the hapless victims. 

James changed the system ; and substituted the fraud of the fox for 
the violence of the lion. He accomplished the same end, without the 
expense of raising a soldier, or firing a gun; and rapaciously seized, with- 
out disbursing a shilling, six entire counties in one province, and nearly 
five in another. Pretended plots and conspiracies were easily fabricated ; 
they were unexpensive ; and succeeded to admiration, so as to render 
unnecessary the apparatus of a rebellion, which would have obliged the 
^'■peace-loving'''' James to open the doors of the temple of Janus, to 
which he had an unconquerable aversion. 

A catch-penny letter was dropped in the castle, containing an absurd 
development of a spurious plot, of which the Earls of Tyrone and 
Tyrcognel were asserted to be the principal agents.* It was pretended 
to be from a Catholic, who had been tampered with by the traitors, and 
whom they had endeavoured to seduce into the conspiracy, but whose 
loyalty rendered him incorruptible. The conspirators, it was stated in 
the letter, had determined on poisoning the deputy, cutting off" Sir 
Oliver Lambert, picking up, one by one, the rest of the officers, starving 

— ">ye ©»<«•— 

• The import of the letter veas as follows : " That the writer was called into 
company by some Popish gentlemen, who, after administering an oath of secrecy, 
declared their purpose, to murder or poison the deputy ; to cut off Sir Oliver Lambert ; 
to pick up one by one the rest of the officers of state ; to oblige the small dispersed 
garrisons by hunger to submit, or to pen them up as sheep io their shambles. That 
the castle of Dublin, being neither manned nor victualled, they held as their own ; 
that the towns were for them and the country with them, the great ones abroad, and 
in the North, prepared to answer the first alarm ; that the powerful men in the West 
are assured by their agents to be ready as soon as the state is in disorder. That the 
Catholic king had promised, and the Jesuits from the Pope had warranted, men and 
means to second the first stirs, and royally to protect all their actions. That as soon 
as the state is dissolved, and the king's sword in their hands, they will elect a governor, 
chancellor and council ; despatch letters to king James I. trusting [from] his un- 
willingness to embark in such a war, and to his facility to pardon, [that he] would 
grant their own conditions of peace and government, with toleration of religion : that 
if the king listen not to their motions, then that the many days spent in England in 
debates and preparations would give them time enough to breathe, fortify, and furnish 
the maritime coasts ; and at leisure call to their aid the Spanish forces from all parts." 
The writer of the letter declares, " that he interposed some doubts on them, which 
they readily answered ; and he pretended to them to consent to further their projects, 
and that he took the method of this letter, to give notice of their designs, though he 
refused to betray his friends ; in the meantime, he would use his best endeavours to 
hinder any further practices." And he concludes, " That if they did not desist, 
though he reverenced the mass and catholic religion equal to any of them, yet he 
would make the leaders of that dance know, that he preferred his country's good 
before their busy and ambitious humours." — Plowden, I. App. 48. 



CHAPTER XI. 121 

the garrisons,* Sic. &c. It is a stupid and clumsy performance, and 
carries tlie strongest marks of fabrication on its face. 

This trick of fabricating plots, and dropping letters to betray them, 
forms an important feature in the history of the oppressions of the 
Irish, as it was a potent and infallible instrument to crush and destroy 
them. 

In this affair there is a degree of mystery, which, at this distance of 
time and place, and in the wretched state of Irish history, it is impos- 
sible to develop. Means were used to terrify the earls, who fled to the 
continent. They might, it is true, have been guilty, and have fled 
through consciousness of their crimes : but it is to the last degree un- 
likely : for, as Leland observes, 

" It seems extraordinary, that the northerns, who were still smarting under the 
chastisement they had received in the late rebellion, whose consequence and influence 
were considerably diminished, and who were very lately reconciled to government, 
should precipitately involve themselves in the guilt of a new rebellion." — Leland, 
II. 498. 

And it will not be denied, that, if they were guilty, there would have 
been some evidence to substantiate their guilt, which never was pro- 
duced : for it is hardly within possibility, that a plot of so great magnitude 
as was pretended, should have existed, without affording such evidence. 
James I, finding the clamour that was excited in Europe, by the 
rapacious spoliations and depredations practised in Ulster, issued a 
proclamation, in which he lavished the most scurrilous abuse on the 
earls, utterly destitute of truth. He charged them, among other things, 
with regarding '^murder as no faidt, marriage of no use, nor any 
man worthy to be esteemed valiant that did not glory in rapine or 
oppression! J !^''\ This tirade is as excessively gross and unseemly, 
as it is wholly destitute of truth, and is a disgrace to the memory of 
the monarch. There never was a period in Ireland, that could justify 
this Billingsgate attack. 

Dr. Leland, assuming that the earls published no vindication of 
themselves, seems disposed to infer from thence, that their silence arose 
from the consciousness of their guilt, which made them acquiesce in 
the justice of their fate. But there is no satisfactory proof of this 
silence: for the non-appearance of such a vindication, above a hundred 
and thirty years afterwards, in the time of Leland, is by no means to 
be admitted as a proof, or even a presumption, that it was not published ; 
and far less will it warrant the inference that the doctor is willing to 
draw from it. Rapin states, that they ^^ gave out that the outrages 
committed on the Catholics had induced them to leave their country.":}; 
He does not state in what form they '■^ gave out'''' this defence : whe- 
ther orally or in a written vindication. The latter, however, is the 
more probable course. But we have no proof that this was the reason 
they '•^ gave out'''' for their flight: it rests on the single declaration of 

* " A letter dropt in the Privy Council Chamber, intimated a traitorous scheme 
of rebellion formed by the earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, and other Irish lords and 
gentlemen of the north ; that they had solicited assistance from Spain and Brussels, 
and intended to begin the war with surprising the castle of Dublin, and assassinating 
the lord deputy and council." — Leland, II. 498. 

t Leland, II. 500. + Rapin, VIII. 69, 

16 



122 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE. 

Rapin : and the various instances we have seen of the characteristic 
infidelity and illiberality of the historians of Irish affairs, in plain and 
simple points, impose on us an imperious duty to receive their accounts 
with great circumspection, in cases involved in difficulty or uncer- 
tainty.* 

An account of the discovery of the conspiracy, entirely different 
from the foregoing, has been published : for the trick of the letter was 
found to be too gross, and had been worn threadbare. It is stated by 
Carleton, bishop of Chichester, that the Earl of Tyrone having pos- 
sessed himself of some lands belonging to the bishop of Meath, the 
latter applied to O'Cahen, one of the conspirators, for information on 
the subject of those lands, which he promised to furnish. The bishdp 
accordingly brought him to Dublin, to give testimony on the subject. 
Process was issued against the earl, ordering him to appear in that city, 
to answer the bishop of Derry's claim, f but without reference to any 

* On this question, the reasoning of Dr. Curry is so strong and conclusive, that 
there needs no apology for laying it before the reader: 

" The king himself was so apprehensive that this affair of the earls ' might blemish,' 
(as he expresses it, in a proclamation on that occasion,) ' the reputation of that 
friendship which ought to be mutually observed between him and other princes, that 
he thought it not amiss to publish some such matter, by way of proclamation, as 
might better clear men's judgments concerning the same.' At the same time solemnly 
promising ' that it should appear to the ivorld an clear as the sun, by evident proof, 
that the only ground of these earls' departure, was the private knowledge and inward 
terror of their own guiltiness.' But neither in that proclamation, nor in any other 
authentic instrument, nor in any manner whatever, did his majesty deign, ever after, 
to enlighten the world, even with the least glimpse of evident proof, that such was 
the only motive of these earls' departure. And I shall leave it to the decision of 
every candid reader, whether the non-performance of his majesty's solemn promise 
be not a better negative proof of the nullity and fiction of this conspiracy of the earls, 
than the bare non-appearance of a memorial in their vindication can be deemed of 
its reality." — Curut, I. 86. 

f " Tyrone, understanding the bishop sought to recover the lands of the bishopric, 
told the bishop thus much, ' My lord, you have two or three bishoprics, and yet you 
are not content with them : you seek the lands of my earldom.' ' My lord,' quoth 
the bishop, 'your earldom is swoln so big with the lands of the church, that it will 
burst, if it be not vented.' 

" The bishop, intending in a lawful course to recover the lands lost, found that 
there was no man could give him better light and knowledge of those things than 
O'Cane, who had been great with Tyrone ; and to make use of him was a matter 
of difficulty : yet some means being used to him, he came of his own accord to the 
bishop, and told him that he could help him to the knowledge of that which he 
sought: but he was afraid of Tyrone. 'Nay,' said the bishop, 'I will not trust you j 
for I know that one bottle of aqua vitae will draw you from me to Tyrone.' 

" Whereupon he took a book, and laid it on his head, saying, ' Ter luiro, ter 
Iniro,' which, my lord of Meath said, (who told me this story,) is one of the greatest 
kinds of affirming a truth which the Irish have: and after this ceremony performed, 
they keep their promise. 

" O'Cane, using this ceremony, promised to reveal all that he knew in that 
matter, if he would, on the other side, promise him to save him from the violence of 
Tyrone, and not to deliver him into England ; which he promised to do. 

"Whereupon the bishop resolved to bring him to the council of Ireland, there to 
take his confession. Thus they coming peaceably to the council, the confession of 
O'Cane was taken. After this, pj-ocess was sent to Tyrone, to -warn him to come, 
at an appointed time, to answer to the suit of the lord bishop of Derry. There was 
no other intention then but in a peaceable manner to bring the suit to a trial.' But 
behold the buf den of an evil conscience ! Tyrone had entered into a ne^ con- 



CHAPTER XL 123 

conspiracy or dropped letter. " There was no other intention then," 
according to the bishop of Chichester, " but in a peaceable way to 
bring the suit to a trial:" for, let it be well-weighed, as all-important 
in deciding on this subject, " the council then knew nothing of 

THE conspiracy." 

These accounts ace in direct opposition to each other, and prove the 
rottenness of the affair. Dr. Carleton's narrative is a wretched, im- 
probable tale: but if it were true, then the story of the dropped letter 
is obviously a falsehood : and if the letter were really dropped, and led 
to the discovery of the conspiracy, then is the bishop's account false. 
We leave the reader to settle the question of fraud and imposture be- 
tween them ; and venture to submit what appears a much more rational 
view of the affair than is given by either of the statements. 

The greedy courtiers, who finally obtained possession of the im- 
mense estates of the earls, were hungering after them, and anxious to 
devise some pretext for a seizure. They had recourse to the clumsy 
contrivance of the letter, the contents of which were probably mag- 
nified and exaggerated to the most extravagant degree, accompanied 
with rumours and threats of a rigorous course to be pursued with those 
noblemen, if they came to Dublin ; at the same time issuing process 
for Tyrone to appear there. Thus he and those implicated with him 
in the </rojo/>e(We/^er-contrivance, were placed in the dilemma, to at- 
tend, and probably be attainted, or to refuse and be proclaimed rebels 
and traitors, and pursued with fire and sword, as was the usual mode 
of proceeding in such cases. In these trying circumstances, they fled 
for safety to the continent. But so far as the spoliation of the un- 
offending inhabitants of Ulster is concerned, it is of little importance 
what construction the reader puts on this statement. Without any 
concern whether it be admitted or rejected, it is barely submitted for 
consideration, as a far more probable solution of the mystery, than 
the letter-dropping affair, or the idle story of a Catholic conspirator 
betraying his dearest friend and accomplice, and running voluntarily 
into danger of his neck and estate, to make discoveries of property 
belonging to, and for the benefit of, an entire stranger, and a Protestant. 

However the question of the guilt or innocence of the earls may be 
determined, it does not affect the character of the proceedings of King 
James, after " their fugacy,^'' as it is quaintly termed by Sir Thomas 
Philips. Those proceedings displayed such a flagitious spirit of 
depredation, such a total disregard of private right and the calls of 
humanity, such a wanton waste of human happiness, and such base 
hypocrisy, in cloaking it with a regard for the civilization and the 
eternal happiness of the natives, as can scarcely be exceeded in the 
history of human injustice, and warrants the most unqualified repro- 
bation. 

spiracy, to raise another rebellion : of this conspiracy was O'Cane. This thing 
■was secret: the council knew nothing of it! Tyrone, Aem_g- served -with 
process to ansiaer the suit, began to suspect that this was but a plot to dra-iu him in ! 
that surely all the treason was revealed by O'Cane, whom he knew to be of the 
conspiracy ; that the pretence was a process and a trial in law, but the intent was 
TO HAVE HIS head ! ! Upon this bare suspicion, Tyrone resolved, with such other 
as was in the conspiracy, to fly ; and thereupon fled out of Ireland, with his confe- 
derates, and left all those lands in the north of Ireland." — Carlbton, 233. 



12-4 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

For, admitting the guilt of the earls to have been fully and com- 
pletely established, even judicially, they and their accomplices alone 
ought to have suffered for it. It was a violation of every principle of 
honour and justice, to involve the innocent with the guilty, — to pro- 
scribe indiscriminately the entire population of sij^ out of the thirty-two 
counties contained in the kingdom. This was the course pursued in 
the plantation of Ulster, of which such erroneous statements have been 
made in all the histories that embrace the reign of James I. with hardly 
an exception. 

By the '■'■fugacy'''' of the earls, every man in the six counties was 
regarded as having at once, ipso facto, forfeited his lands, which be- 
came vested in the crown ! to be granted, at the pleasure of the mon- 
arch, to whomsoevei, and on Avhatsoever terms, he judged proper ! ! ! 

There Avere three divisions made of the unholy spoils : 

First to " English and Scotch, who are to plant their proportions 
with English and Scottish tenants;" 

Secondly, to "servitors in Ireland, who may take English or Irish 
tenants at their choice ;" 

Thirdly, to " natives of those counties, who are to be freeholders." 
— Hibernica, 53. 

The largest and fairest portion of the lands was bestowed on the 
favoured few of the first class ;* to the next were bestowed those of 
the second quality ; and the despoiled Irish were planted on those of 
inferior quality. 

But a malignant feature of this transaction remains behind, — a fea- 
ture unique in its character. The wretched Irish, victims of a vile 
and rapacious scheme of depredation, deprived of their paternal homes, 
and exiled to the most sterile spots, were barbarously cut off from all 
chance of ever regaining their possessions ; as the undertakers and ser- 
vitors were bound, under penalty, never to sell to the " mere Irish, "t 

* Orders and Conditions of the Plantation of Ulster. 

" 8. That in the surveys, observation he made what proportions, by name, are 
fittest to be allotted to the Britains; what to the servitors; and what to the natives; 
wherein this respect is to be had, that t/te Britains be pnt in places of best safety ,- 
the natives to be dispersed; and the servitors planted in those places -which are of 
greatest impurtunce to serve the rest."" — Hibernica, 70. 

I Articles concerning the undertakers. 

" 7. The said undertakers, their heirs and assigns, shall not alien or demise their 
portions, or any part thereof, to tlie mere Irish, or to such persons as will not take 
the oath, which the said undertakers are bound to take by the former article : and 
to that end, a proviso shall be inserted in their letters patents. 

" 10. The said undertakers shall not alien their portions during five years next 
after the date of their letters patents, but in this manner, viz. one third part in fee- 
farm ; another third part for forty years or under ; reserving to themselves the other 
third part without alienation, during the said five years. But after the said five 
years, they shall be at liberty to alien to all persons except the mehe irish, and 
such persons as will not take the oath which the said undertakers are to take as 
aforesaid ! ! !" — Hibernica, 66. 

Articles concerning the servitors. 

" They shall take the oath of supremacy, and be conformable in religion as the 
former undertakers. 

" 9. They [the servitors] shall not alien their portions, or any part thereof, to the 
mere Irisli, or to any such person or persons as will not take the like oath, as the 
said undertakers were to take as aforesaid ; and to that end a proviso shall be inserted 
in their letters patents." — Idem, 6f>. 



CHAPTER XL 125 

nor to Roman Catholics of any nation: for the disposal to persons who 
did not take the oath of supremacy, and '■'■conform themselves in reli- 
gion according to his majesty^ s laws,^^f was rigorously prohibited and 
punished. 

Now, reader, are you not petrified with astonishment, at this view 
of the grand and magnificent sclieme, which has immortalized the 
memory of the first Stuart that wielded the triple sceptre of the British 
dominions ? * 

To bring this point home to the feelings of an American reader, I 
venture to state an analogous case, to which I request particular at- 
tention. 

Suppose that the resistance of America, in 1776, had terminated as 
fatally as the various insurrections of the Irish have done; or, to come 
nearer to the true state of the case, to make the analogy more complete, 
suppose a wild, incoherent letter had, in 1774, been dropped in the 
court of St James's, accusing George Washington, John Hancock, 
Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and Peyton Ran- 
dolph, of a conspiracy ; that such threats were held out, and such under- 
hand means used, as to induce them to have recourse to '■'■fugacy ;" that 
in consequence of their flight, George HI. imitating the pious example 
of James I. had seized on the entire provinces of Virginia and Massa- 
chusetts ; had taken the inhabitants, like so many merino sheep, and 
planted, in the Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, those whose ancestors, 
for time immemorial, had had lordly palaces in the great Limestone 
valley, and in Massachusetts : and suppose further, that those wretch- 
ed victims planted in the Dismal Swamp, were condemned to vegetate 
there, and that the depredators on their possessions were bound, under 
heavy penalties, never to sell any part of their own lands to them ; 
suppose, too, that a large portion of the ill-fated inhabitants, who could 
not be placed advantageously in the Dismal Swamp, were " transport- 
ed into such other parts,* as, by reason of the waste land therein, 
were fittest to receive them, and not planted together in one place." 
What judgment would he form of such an odious system of barefaced 
rapine and cruelty ? Would he not regard it as a violation of the most 
holy and sacred rights of human nature, and as branding with infamy 
the vile projectors of the spoliation and their accomplices ? Such a 
judgment ought he to form of the "/crwows northern plantation, so 
honourable to the king ;"J and ought not the historians who have not 
merely palliated, but justified and eulogised, such unjust proceedings 
partake of the disgrace of those whose crimes they dared to vindicate? 

Who that has understanding to judge between right and wrong — or 
a heart to feel for the ill-fated victims of tyranny, oppression, rapine, 
and cruelty, can peruse these monstrous details, without execrating the 
memory of the wretched monarch ? 

The reader is shocked with this detail. He wishes it drawn to a 
close. He supposes he has learned all its odious features, and that it 

* " The sword-men are to be transported into such other parts of the kingdom, 
as, by reason of the -waste land therein, are fittest to receive them : namely, into 
Connaught and some parts of Munster ; where they are to be dispersed, and not 
planted together in one place : and such sword-men as have not followers, nor cattle 
of their own, to be disposed of in his majesty's service," — Hibernica, 55. 

t Hibernica, 70. :|: Leland, II. 504. 



126 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC.E. 

is impossible to add a shade to its deformity. But he is quite mistaken; 
one of the vilest remains to be stated. The wretched natives, thus 
phuulcred, thus defrauded of their patrimonial iiiheriiance, were still 
furllicr plundeied, and defrauded of a large portion of the shabby 
"equivalent," as it was called. In some cases, they did not receive 
above a half or a third, and in some no part whatever, of what was 
intended for them by the wretched monarch by whom the spoliation 
had been perpetrated. • 

It is deeply to be regretted, and reflects everlasting disgrace on the 
parties concerned, that the views of James, limited as they were in point 
of justice to the oppressed Irish, were in a great measure rendered nu- 
gatory, and defeated ; and though " some, indeed, were allowed to 
enjoy a small pittance" only of the lands reserved for them by this 
monarch, 

" Others -were totally ejected." " The resentments of the sufferers were in some 
cases exasperated, hy finding' their lands transferred to hnngry adventurers, -who 
had no services to plead, and sometimes to those who had been rebels and traitors I" 
— Lelani), ir. 546. 

After a careful perusal of the foregoing view of the lawless and pre- 
datory means by which .lames possessed himself of so fair a portion 
of Ireland, and the atrocious injustice whereby the settlement was regu- 
lated, what must be the astonishment, how great the indignation, of 
the candid and upright, to read the deceptions and encomiastic manner 
in which the affair is blazoned forth by all the historians who have 
treated on it ! Had James civilized a nation of fierce barbarians, with- 
out offering the least violence to their persons, the least injustice to 
their property — had he framed for them a code of laws worthy of the 
united wisdom of Moses, Lycurgus, Solon, Minos, Numa Pompilius, 
and Alfred — had he settled them on lands of his own, and bestowed 
abundant means of cultivation, he would not be entitled to higher en- 
comiums than are lavished on acts which, so far as the rights of pro- 
perty are concerned, have far more of the character of Blackbeard, the 
pirate, than of Alfred or William Penn, and which deserve the severest 
strains of indignant reprobation ! 

" To consider James in a more advantageous light," says Hume, " we must take 
a view of him as the legislator of Ireland : and most of the institutions which he 
had framed for civilizing that kingdom, being finished about this period, it may not 
here be improper to give some account of them. He frequently boasts of the man- 
agement of Ireland as his masterpiece ; and it will appear upon inquiry, that his 
vanity iri this particular was not altogether wifounded .'" — Hume, HI. 306. 

" After abolishing these Irish customs, and substituting English law in their place, 
James, having taken all the 7iatives under his protection, and declared them 
free citizens, proceeded to govern them by a regular administration, military as well 
as civil \"—Idem, 307. 

Here is a portrait, as like the real state of the case, as the reign of 
Nero was like that of Marcus Aurelius. After having despoiled an 
entire sixth part of the nation of their property ,^after having dis- 
persed them here and there, as suited his purpose, — after having trans- 
ported a large portion of them to the wild wastes of Connaught and 
Munster, — after having impressed into his armies such of them as 
" had no cattle or followers of their own," we are mocked with the ab- 
surd falsehood, that "/le took them under his protection ;" just such 
♦' protection" as the lawless pirate extends to the peaceful mariners on 
board an unarmed merchant vessel. 



CHAPTER XL I37 

Leland, of whom we have so frequently had occasion to make 
honourable mention, runs the same race of candour, and arrives at the 
same goad of truth, as Hume. He bestows not one word on the tur- 
pitude of plundering, probably one hundred and fifty thousand people 
of their patrimony, for the crimes of two great men, never proved, 
never attempted to be proved, and resting wholly on a ridiculous, ab- 
surd, and anonymous letter, or a tale equally absurd, which is incom- 
patible with the story of the letter ; which crimes, if proved, ought not, 
I beg leave to repeat, to have involved the innocent people, who were 
offered up on the altars of rapine. 

" James, who affected to derive his glory from the arts of peace, resolved to dispose 
of those lands in such manner as might introduce all the happy consequences of 
peace and cultivation. The experie?ice of ages bears the most honourable testi- 
mony to the desig7i ! ! and Ireland must acknowledge, that here were the first foun- 
dations laid of its affluence and security." — Leland, IL 545. 

"Such was the general scheme of this /ajhoj/s northern plantation ! ! so hononra- 
ble to the king ! ! and of such consequence to the realm of Ireland." — Idem, 512. 

"The passion for plantation which James indulged, -ivas actuated by the fairest 
and most captivating motives. He considered himself as the destined reformer and 
civilizer of a rude people ; and was impatient for the glory of teaching a whole nation 
the valuable arts of life ; of improving their lands, extending their commerce, and re- 
fining their manners." — Idem, 545. 

The cravings of the lawless passion for spoliation and plantation, 
with which James was devoured, were by no means lulled to rest, 
when he had exhausted the pretences of conspiracy. He broke new 
ground ; and availed himself of claims arising from the conquest of 
Henry H; and of concessions made by that monarch, to despoil those 
whose ancestors had been in undisturbed possession for centuries. To 
this system of rapine the polished Leland devotes ten lines, without 
one decisive word of censure or disapprobation. It is true, he hints 
that all is not exactly as it should be. 

" In the pursuit of this favourite object, he had sometimes recourse to claims 
■which the old natives deemed obsolete and unjust ! ! The seizure of those lands, 
whose possessors had lately meditated rebellion, and fled from the sentence of the 
law, produced little clamour or murmuring! ! But when he recurred to the con- 
cessions made to Henry IL to invalidate Me TITLES DERIVED FROM A 
POSSESSION OF SOME CENTURIES, the apparent severity!! ! had its 
full efl'ect on those who were not acquainted with the refinements of law, and not 
prepossessed in favour of the equity of such refinements, when employed to divest 
them of their ancient property !" — Ibid. 

To this sentence the reader's attention is specially invited. When 
Leland informs us, that the natives " deemecV^ the king's " claims un- 
just," it is fair to infer, that he himself believed them just, or at least 
that there was doubt on the subject. But what was the nature of those 
claims ? They are stated by Leland himself, at the close of the sen- 
tence. They were grounded on concessions four hundred years old. 
Yet of those claims, which, if universally admitted, would forfeit 
nearly the whole globe, this candid and impartial writer simply in- 
forms his abused reader, that " the old natives" [were so unreasonable 
that they] " deemed them, unjust!'''' The interpolated parenthesis 
in this sentence is, I think, by no means forced or strained. It is 
the natural form in which the phraseology presents itself to the mind'^s 
eye. 

The term " apparent severity" would be appropriately applied to 
the rigorous exaction of a heavy fine fairly incurred ; to the unrelenting 



128 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^, 

infliction of the full measure of punishment for crimes committed, or 
to the confiscation of property duly forfeited ; but it is a miserable 
departure from historical justice, to apply it, as in the presentinstance, 
to an act of absolute regal robbery : for the dispossession of persons 
whose families had undisputed "possession for centuries," on such 
grounds as Leland states, is undoubted robbery. What would be said 
of the historian who should descant on the "apparent severity" of 
Blackbeard or Morgan, the pirates, in their attacks on the defenceless 
inhabitants of Lima or Cuzco, or the "apparent severity" of William 
III. in the massacre of Glenco, or the persecution and ruin of the ill- 
fated Scotch colony at Darien ? 

Before the poor plundered people were expelled from their homes 
and farms, and turned adrift on the world, they made a legal effort to 
prove the wickedness and injustice of the procedure; "to maintain," 
in the language of Sir John i)avies, " that they had estates of inherit- 
ance in their possessions, which their chief could not forfeit." Sir John, 
the attorney-general, pleaded against their claims ; and has fortunately 
left on record his speech on the subject,* which exhibits a most ex- 

* " The inhabitants of this country do border Upon the English Pale, where they 
have many acquaintances and alhauces ; by means whereof they have learned to talk 
of a freehold and of estates of inlieritance, iL'hich the poor natives of Fermanagh 
and Tyrconnel could not speak of; although these men had no other nor better 
estate than they ; that is, only a scambling and transitory possession, at the pleasure 
of the chief of every sept. 

" When the proclamation was published touching their removal, (which was done 
in the public Sessions-House, the lord deputy and commissioners being present,) a 
lawyer of the Pale, retained by them, did endeavour to maintain that they had 
estates of inheritance in their possessions, which their chief lords could not forfeit; 
and therefore, in their name, desired two things ; first, that they might be admitted 
to traverse the offices which had been found of those lands; secondly, that they 
might have the benefit of a proclamation made about five years since, whereby the 
persons, lands, and goods, of all his majesty's subjects, were taken into his royal 
protection. 

" To this the king's attorney, being commanded by the lord deputy, made answer: 
That he was glad that this occasion was offered, of declaring and setting forth his 
majesty' s just title ! as well foi his majesty's honour, (who, being the most just 

PRINCE LIVING ! WOULD NOT DISPOSSESS THE MEANEST OF HIS SUBJECTS AVRONG- 

FCLLT, TO GAIN MANT SUCH KINGDOMS ! ! ! ) as for the satisfaction of the natives 
themselves, and of all the world ; for his majesty's right, it shall appear, said he, 
that his majesty may and ought to dispose of these lands, in such manner as he hath 
done, and is about to do, in law, in conscience, and in houojir ! ! ! 

" In law ; whether the case be to be ruled by our law of England, which is in 
force, or by their own Brehon law, which is abolished, and adjudged no law, but a 
lewd custom. 

" It is our rule in our law, that the king is lord paramount of all the land in 
the kingdom, and that all his subjects hold their possessions of him, mediate or 
immediate .' ! ! 

" It is another rule of our law, that where the tenant's estate doth fail and deter- 
mine, the lord, of whom the land is holden, may enter and dispose thereof at his 
pleasure. 

" Then those lands in the county of Cavan, which was O'Rilie's country, are all 
holden of the king; and because the captainship or chiefrey of O'Rilie is abolished 
by act of Parliament, by stat. 2. of Elizabeth ; and also because two of the chief 
lords elected by the country have been lately slain in rebellion, (which is an attainder 
in law,) these lands are holden immediately of his majesty. 

" If then the king's majesty be immediate chief lord of these lands, let us see what 
estates the tenants or possessors have, by the rules of the common law of England. 



CHAPTER XI. 139 

traordinary specimen of chicane and quibble, that would have better 
become an Old Bailey pettifogging attorney, than such a high and re- 
sponsible officer of the crown. He sought to convince them, that "his 

" Either they have an estate of inheritance or a lesser estate : a lesser estate they 
do not claim ; or if they did, they ought to show the creation thereof, which they 
cannot do. 

" If they have an estate of inheritance, their lands ought to descend to a certain 
heir ; but neither their chiefries nor their tenancies did ever descend to a certain 
heir ; therefore they have no estate of inheritance ! 

" Their chiefries were ever carried in a course of tannistry to the eldest and 
strongest of the sept, who held the same during life, if he were not ejected by a 
stronger. 

" This estate of the chieftain or tannist hath been lately adjudged no estate in law ! 
but only a transitory and scrambling possession. 

" Their inferior tenancies did run in another course, like the old gavelkind in 
Wales, where the bastards had their portions, as well as the legitimate ; which por- 
tion they held not in perpetuity ; but the chief of the sept did once in two or three 
years shuffle and change their possessions, by new partitions and divisions ; which 
made their estates so uncertain, as that by opinion of all the judges in this kingdom, 
this pretended custom of gavelkind is adjudged and declared void in law ! 

"And as these men had no certain estates of inheritance, so did they never till 
now claim any such estate, nor conceive that their laivful heirs should inherit the 
land which they possessed ! ! ! ! which is manifest by two arguments. 

" 1. They never esteemed lawful matrimony, to the end they might have lawful 
heirs J ! ! 

" 2. They never did build any houses, nor plant orchards or gardens, nor take 
any care of their posterities .' ! ! 

"IF these men had no estates in law, either in their mean chiefries or in their 
inferior tenancies, it followeth that if his majesty, who is the undoubted lord para- 
mount, do seize and dispose these lands, they can make no title against his majesty 
or his patentees, and consequently cannot be admitted to traverse any office of those 
lands ! for without showing a title, no man can be admitted to traverse an office. 

" Thus then it appears, that us ivell by the Irish custom as the law of England, 
his majesty may, at his pleasure, seize these lands, and dispose thereof! ! ! The 
only scruple which remains, consists in this point ; whether the king may, in 
conscience or honour, remove the ancient tenants, and bring in strangers among 
them. 

" Truly his majesty may not only take this course lawfully, bjit is bound in con- 
science so to do ! ! I 

" For, being the undoubted rightful king of this realm, so as the people and land 
are committed by the Divine Majesty to his charge and government, his majesty is 
bound in conscience to use ali lawful and*Just courses ! to reduce his people 
from barbarism to civility ! the neglect whereof heretofore hath been laid as an 
imputation upon the crown of England. Now civiliiy cannot possibly be planted 
among them" [without plundering them of their estates] " but by this mixed planta- 
tion of civil men, which likewise could not be without removal and transplantation 
of some of the natives, and settling of their possessions in a course of common law; 
for if themselves were suffered to possess the whole country, as their septs have done 
for many hundreds of years past, they would never, to the end of the world, build 
houses, make townships or villages, or mamire or improve the land as it ought to 
be ! ! ! ! therefore it stands neither with Cliristian policy nor conscience, to suffer 
so good and fruitful a country to lie waste like a wilderness, when his majesty may 
lawfully" [reduce the right owners to beggary, and] " dispose it to such persons as 
will make a civil plantation thereupon ! ! ! 

"Again: his majesty may take this course IN CONSCIENCE; because it 
tendeth to the good of the inhabitants many ways ! .' ! for half their land doth now 
lie waste: by reason whereof that which is inhabited is not improved to half the 
value ; but when the undertakers are planted among them, (there being place and 
scope enough both for them and for the natives,)" [yet a large portion of them were 
• transported to the wild wastes in Connaught and Munster,] " and that all the land 

17 



130 VINDICI.E HIBERNIC.E. 

majesty was the most just prince living, and would not dispossess the 
meanest of his subjects wrongfully, to gain many such kingdoms !" 
This was a very handsome and suitable exordium to a discourse intended 
to justify the dispossession of probably a hundred and fifty thousand 
subjects, great and mean together. As a proper corollary to this, he 
declared, that " his majesty not only might, but absolutely ought to 
dispose of the lands as he had done, in law, in conscience, and in 
honour," although the transaction was a gross and palpable violation 
of the plainest, and most palpable " rules of law, conscience, and 
honour." He gravely urged, that they had " no certain estates of 
inheritance," which, he says, " is manifest by two arguments," the 
utter fallacy and absurdity of which cannot fail to strike the reader with 
great force. The first is. 

That " they never esteemed lawful matrimony ! to the end they might 
have lawful heirs ! ! !" 

And the second. 

That " they never did build any houses, nor plant orchards, or 
gardens!!! nor take any care of their posterities!!!'''' 

Who can read such miserable chicanery, without ineffable disgust 
at the impudence, and abhorrence of the fraud and imposture, which 
attempted to justify the spoliation of possessions, many of which had 
descended from father to son for perhaps five hundred or a thousand 
years, because the owners did not '■'^esteem lawful matrimony,'''' nor 
*^ plant orchards or gardens, nor build any houses?" and this covered 
over with the hypocritical mantle of ^^ law, conscience, and honour?''* 

Not satisfied with this reasoning, he undertook to prove, that the 
plantation was absolutely for the good of the natives ; for that by this 
agrarian hocus pocus, five hundred acres thenceforward would produce 
more than five thousand had previously done. It followed of course, 
that the man who was plundered of four thousand five hundred acres 
out of five thousand, was actually, according to this logic, if not a 
gainer, at least not a loser by the robbery ! ! ! 

He closes his discourse by asserting, that the transplantation of the 
natives was made " more like a father, than like a lord or monarch !" 
In proof of this position, he displays great learning on the transplanta- 
tion of nations by tlie Romans, the Spaniards, and the English them- 

—•■•♦e ©©<•••— 
shall be fully stocked and manured, ,^i;e Imndred acres -zinll be of better value than 
Jive thousand are iioxu ! Besides, where before their estates were altogether uncer- 
tain and transitory, so as their heirs did never inherit! they shall now have certain 
estates of inheritance, the portion allotted unto them, which they and their children 
after them shall enjoy with security. 

" Lastly, this transplantation of the natives is made by his majesty, rather like a 
father than like a lord or 7nonarch I ! .' The Romans transplanted whole nations 
out of Germany into France ; the Spaniards lately removed all the Moors out of 
Grenada into Barbary, without providing them any new seats there : ivhen the 
E7iglish Pale ivas first planted, all the natives were clearly expelled, so as not one 
Irish family hud so much as an acre of freehold in all the five counties of the 
Pale ! ! I and now, within these four years past, the Grcemes were removed from 
the borders of Scotland to this kingdom, and had not one foot of land allotted to 
them here ; but these natives of Cavan have competent portions of land assigned to 
them, many of them in ihe same barony where they dwelt before : and such as are 
removed, are planted in the same county ; so as his majesty doth in this imitate the 
skilful husbandman, ivho doth remove his fruit ti-ees, not ivith a purpose to ex- 
tirpate and destroy them, but tliat they may bring better and sweeter fruit after 
the transplantation I .'.' — Daties, 276. 



CHAPTER XI. 131 

selves in former times ; and states, that when the English Pale was 
first planted, the natives were so wholly expelled, that "no/ one Irish 
family had so much as an acre of freehold in all the five counties,'"* 
This argument ought to have removed all doubts from the minds of the 
plundered Irish; as it proved that James only "followed suit" with 
the original invaders, the English, who had, from time immemorial, a 
prescriptive right to seize their lands, and not leave them so much as 
"one acre of freehold," if they judged proper; and, of course, that 
James I. proved himself " a father," when he refrained from availing 
himself of his rights to their full extent, and only robbed them of three- 
fourths of the best of their patrimonial estates. 

The whole of the argument, if such miserable quibbles and balder- 
dash can be called argument, is to be found in the preceding note. 1 
have given it in extenso, to afibrd the reader a fair sample of the " law, 
conscience, and honour," displayed towards the " savage Irish," dur- 
ing the millenium of forty years, when, as we shall see in a subsequent 
page, Clarendon asserts, that " whatsoever their land, labour, or indus- 
try produced, was their own, being free from fear of having it taken 
from them by the king, on any pretence whatsoever! ! ! !" 

Although the extreme fallacy of the logic of Sir John Davies in this 
speech, are too plain and palpable to require refutation, yet there is 
one point so very barefaced that it ought not to be passed over with- 
out exposure. The statements here given of the Irish character, are 
diametrically opposite to, and utterly incompatible with, the very flat- 
tering picture he drew of them in another part of his v/ork. In order 
to show the inconsistency and disregard of truth, which prevail even 
among the most respectable of the Old English writeis on Ireland and 
Irishmen, I venture to repeat and place in contrast, two different 
statements of Sir John, who, nevertheless, it must be acknowledged, 
was among the most candid of those writers for centuries. 

Sir John Davids versus Sir John Davies, 

" Civility can not possibly be planted " In time of peace the Irish are more 
among them but by this mixed plantatio?i fearfuU to offend the laiv than the Eng- 
of ciiiil men." — Davies, 281. lish or any other nation ivkatsoever." — 

This is clearly assuming that they were Idem, 201. 
savage barbarians, who required to be " There is no people under the sun 
dispossessed of their property to introduce that doth love equal and indifferent 
civilization among them. justice better than the Irish — or ivill 

rest better satisfied -with the execution 
thereof, although it be against themselves, 
provided they may have the protection 
and benefit of the law, when upon just 
cause they do desire it." — Idem, 213. 

On a calm comparison of these statements, it is impossible not to 
feel pity for Sir John, if he was a man of honourable principles, to be 
obliged by his office of attorney-general, to palliate or justify the pirati- 
cal proceedings of his rapacious monarch. It must have cost him a 
severe struggle. Nothing can more fully prove the extreme injustice 

* If this account be correct, it evinces how early the system of depredation on 
the Irish commenced — to what a sweeping extent it was carried — and what cause 
the nation had to curse the lust of Dermod M'Murrough, King of Leinster, which 
led to the fatal invasion of Ireland. 



133 VINDICIif: HIBERNIC^. 

of the procedure, than the miserable defence offered by a man of such 
splendid talents. 

It is extraordinary that the Boeotian dulness of the Irish rendered 
them incapable of comprehending the cogency of Sir John Davies's 
reasoning: it was too elegant and refined for their uncultivated minds. 
The poor idiots could not conceive why they should be stripped of 
their estates, and expelled from house and home, because an anony- 
mous and absurd letter had been dropped in the Privy Council 
Chamber. 

The lord deputy, however, had stronger, and far more irresistible 
arguments than Sir John, to wliich they were forced to submit: 

" The natives seemed not unsatisfied in reason, though they remained in their 
passions discontented, being much g-rieved to leave their possessions to strangers, 
which they had so long after their manner enjoyed ; howbeit, my 1.0HI1 deputt 

DID so MIX THUEATS WITH ENTKEATT, PnECIBUSaUE MIIfAS REGALITER AUDIT, 

as they promised to give way to the inidertakers, if the sheriff, by warrant of the 
commissioners, did put them in possession." — Davies, 284. 

He judiciously "mixed threats with entreaties, precihusque minas 
regaliter addit?'''' that is, in the true polite Tyburn style, persuasion 
on the tongue, and the pistol in hand. Whatever difficulty there might 
be in yielding to the one, was removed by the application of the other. 
No mode of conviction is so powerful. Make a low bow, with entrea- 
ties, and add threats, properly supported, in case of refusal. He must 
have been a most stubborn disputant, who could resist the conviction 
arising from the overwhelming arguments of the deputy, with an army 
at his command, the power of proclaiming martial law at pleasure, and 
the executioner ready to support his reasoning with a rope or an axe. 
Neither Demosthenes, Cicero, Burke, Pitt, Fox, nor Patrick Henry, 
could withstand such logic. 

It were endless to recapitulate the odious features of the '■^magnifi- 
cent project''' of this rapacious monarch. With one more, I shall close 
the catalogue of rapine and oppression. • 

The adjustment of the rent, payable by the different descriptions of 
persons to whom these lands were allotted, affords a striking instance 
of gross partiality and injustice, and of a most wanton and reckless 
disregard of even the common forms of honesty. The undertakers, 
who had the choicest portions of the soil, were to pay to the crown a 
rent of six shillings and eight-pence, for every sixty acres ; the 
servitors, ten shillings ; but the natives, plundered of their paternal 
estates, and reduced from the enviable condition of independent free- 
holders to that of tenants, were to pay thirteen shillings and four-pence !* 
That is to say, the despoiled owners of the soil were to pay exactly 
double the rent for inferior lands, which the despoilers paid for the 
superior ! and, to add to the iniquity, the undertakers and servitors 
were to pay no rent till the third year, being rent-free for two years; 
whereas the natives were to pay the second year, being rent-free only 
one year! 

* Ilibernica, 66. 



CHAPTER XII. 133 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Egyptians spoiled once more. Regal rapine, in the King^s and 
Queen's ^counties, Leitrim, Longford, and Westmeath. Three 
hundred and eighty-Jive thousand acres seized under the hypO' 
critical and canting pretence of civilizing the natives; but in vio- 
lation of every principle of honour, honesty, justice and religion. 

"Not e'en the high anointing hand of heav'n 
Can authorize oppression ; give a law 
For lawless pow'r ; wed faith to violation ; 
On reason build misrule, or justly bind 
Allegiance to injustice." — Brooke. 

James's predominating passion for plunder and plantation had been 
tolerably satisfied with the spoliation of Ulster, where, by a princely 
exercise of " laiv, honour, and conscience,'''' he had involved in ruin 
the once proud owners of princely estates ; raised to rank and fortune 
many of the lowest orders of society, whose lives had been one continued 
gcene of rapine and plunder ; and, in a word, changed the whole face of 
the country. He for a while rested from his labours : but the devour- 
ing lust of plunder and plantation returned ; and, being too imperiously 
craving to be resisted, he resolved to gratify it. Encouraged by the 
facility with which he had effected his unhallowed spoliations in Ulster, 
he displayed himself, on this occasion, in the bold character of a pub- 
lic depredator, scorning disguise or artifice. It was thought unneces- 
sary to hire letter-droppers, or false witnesses, to swear to plots or 
conspiracies. Without any of the tricks played off by his predeces- 
sors, or, in the province of Ulster, by himself, he plundered his sub- 
jects, in King's and Queen's counties, Leitrim, Longford, and West- 
meath, of estates to the amount of three hundred and eighty-five thou- 
sand acres. Thus this miserable monarch, in a time of profound peace, 
at two successive operations, seized about the twentieth part of the 
whole island ; five hundred thousand acres in Ulster, and three hun- 
dred and eighty-five thousand in Leinster : and it is more than probable, 
that, had his inglorious career continued as long as that of some of his 
successors, he would have seized every acre of the island, belonging 
to the Roman Catholics ; for, after his depredation in Leinster was 
completed, he was seriously occupied in preparations for the plantation 
of Connaught,* when death humanely rescued his Irish subjects from 
the merciless gripe of a canting, hypocritical oppressor, who had, 
throughout his reign, plundered them as " a father, not as a mon- 
arc^,"and, according to the sovereign dictates of ^^law, honour, and 

• " The project recommended to the king was nothing less than that of establish- 
ing an extensive plantation in Connaught, similar to that of ulster ; and, 
in his rage for reformation, it was most favourably received." — Leland, 
II. 558. 



134 VINDICIJE HIBERNIC^. 

conscience''^ reduced them to beggary here, for " the good of their souls," 
hereafter ! 

But, as it was only " spoiling the Egyptians,'''' it is passed over by 
Leland, Carte, and Hume, not merely as an innocent, but as. a neces- 
sary measure ; nay, 'it appears from their statements as entitled to ap- 
plause. 

Leland informs us, that those counties, " by their situation and cir- 
cumstances, required particular regulation." And what was the '^'■par- 
ticular regulalion,^^ which they underwent ? It was pimply that 
the rights of property, held sacred among the most barbarous nations, 
the Moors and Algerines, were basely invaded by a wretched monarch, 
fraudulently ranked among the civilizers and benefactors of mankind : 

"Naturally strong, and diflicult of access, they afforded, in the very heart of the 
island, a safe retreat and shelter to the old inhabitants, who were tenacious of their 
barbarous customs, nestling in their filthy cottages in winter, in summer wandering 
with their cattle over the desert mountains. Thro' these districts, the Irish insur- 
gents had usually passed from Connaught or Ulster, to annoy the Pale, They had 
. served for a passage to Tyrone and his forces into Munster, and a retreat in his in- 
glorious flight from Kinsale. In time of peace, they were the safe receptacles of 
robbers, where they defied thq ministers of justice ; and, surrounded with woods, 
bogs, and mountains, lived in a sort of independence, and contemptuous resistance 
to the law. " To reduce these savag-es to order and, svbjecfion," [that is, reader, 
those savages, than whom, according to Sir John Davies and Edward Coke, no 

PEOPLE UNDER THE SUN lOVED JUSTICE BETTER ; and who Were MORE FEARFUL 

TO OFFEND THE LAW THAN THE ENGLISH*] " inquisitioHs Were held to examine 
the king's title to the whole or any part of their lands. It was found, that some 
parts tiad been ancientli/ possessed by Englisli settlers, who, in the disorders of thgt 
kingdom had been expelled by the old natives, and -wJiicli -were tlierefore vested in 
the cro-wn, as lands of absentees ; others appeared to fiuve been forfeited by rebel- 
lion. So that James dee7ned fiimse/f entitled to matce a distribution 0/ THREE 
HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE THOUSAND ACRES in tliese counties, 
to such proprietors, and in such proportions, as might promote the general welfare 
and security, the extension of commerce, and the civility of the natives. The large 
portions re-gi-anted to the old inhabitants, on permanent tenures, reconciled many 
to this new scheme of plantation." — Leland, II. 539. 

Language hardly affords terms of contempt and disgust, adequate 
to brand the writer, who can cant and whine, in extenuation of such 
atrocious spoliation. If the natives " nestled in filthy cottages," it 
proceeded from the oppression of the wretched government under which 
they groaned ; and which, in the lapse of ages, scarcely ever adopted 
a single measure dictated by sound or magnanimous policy, or calcu- 
lated to claim the respect or gratitude of its Irish subjects. 

In the same hacknied and fraudulent strain. Carte cants on the sub- 
ject of this immense depredation : 

" The peace of the kingdom was very precarious, whilst these countries remained 
in a sort of independence on the state, and the inhabitants lived in a contempt of 
its laws. The king saiv it necessary to reduce them into tlie same order and sub- 
jection" [that is, the same state of beggary 'and ruin in which he had involved the 
people of the six counties in Ulster] " as the rest of the kingdom : and therefore, by 
a special commission, in 1614, had empowered the lord deputy Chichester and others 
to take a view of the counties," [and so ascertain how much he might seize] "and 
inquire into the title which the crown had to them, or any part thereof; the estate, 
number, and condition of the inhabitants ; the chiefries, claims, customs, and rents 
of the present lords ; and the best way of reducing and settling them." — Carte, 
I. 23. 

— ..>»§® ©<♦«•— 
* Supra, page 115. 



CHAPTER XII. 135 

I have given these statements at length, that the reader may have a 
full view of the grounds on which the depredation took place, and may- 
decide on its propriety or justice, and on the merits of the writers from 
whom the accounts are derived. The flimsy pretext, that " the peace 
of the country was precarious," and that "these counties were recep- 
tacles of robbers," will not stand a moment's examination when com- 
pared with the cotemporaneous testimony of Sir John Davies in favour 
of the peaceable demeanour of the Irish, and their exemplary submission 
to law. Fraud and rapine never wanted a pretext of extenuation or 
justification. The fable of the wolf and the lamb afibrds a proper type 
of this course of proceeding. 

If those counties were receptacles of robbers, the proper corrective 
was to open assizes, and employ courts, sheriffs, and executioners ; not 
to rob the people of their lands, and turn them out on the highway, to 
retaliate on the unwary passenger the depredations they suffered from 
those whose ofiice imposed on them the duty of protection. 

The admission of such a paltry defence of so base a system of rapine 
and plunder, is discreditable to Leland and Carte, and greatly derogates 
from the credit of their histories. Had they the slightest knowledge 
of their duty, or did they pay attention to its discharge, they would 
have marked the act with the reprobation which it so richly merited. 
There was not a subject in his dominions, Avhose estate the rapacious 
monarch might not have seized, under some pretence or other, equally 
valid; nor, in fact, is there an estate under the star-spangled canopy of 
heaven, which might not be seized with equal justice, and equal regard 
to " law, honour, and conscience.'''' 

In the " famous northern plantation, so honourable to King James," 
according to the very accurate Leland, we have seen that numbers of 
the natives were despoiled of the paltry modicum of the soil, which 
the rapacity of the monarch had allotted them, to support a miserable 
existence.* As might be expected, the Leinster adventurers, in order 
to keep their Ulster friends in countenance, followed their captivating 
example, and defrauded the natives to precisely the same extent. This 
verifies the old Latin adage, 

" Ad regis exemplum totus componitur orbis." 

We may form a tolerably accurate idea of the frightful extent to 
which the spirit of rapine was carried, fi'om the specimen here exhibited. 
What a hideous specimen! Proprietors expelled from their large 
paternal estates, in rich valleys and " profitable lands," and receiving 

* " In the county of Longfortl, the 7iatives in general had scarce a third part of 
their former possessions, either in iiiimber of acres or in value of profitable ground, 
allotted them. The arts of admeasurement were well understood in those days; and, 
as the king had directed a certain quantity of unprofitable ground, bog, wood, and 
mountain, to be thrown into the several proportions of profitable land allotted to 
British and natives, a great latitude of Jzidgmeiif was left to the commissioners, 
■which some of them knew hoiv to make use of for their advantage. 

"Hence several persons -were turned out of large estates of profitable land, and 
had only a small pittance, less than a fourth part, assigned them for it, in barren 
ground ! ! ! "—Carte, I. 23. 

" In the small county of Longford, we find that twenty-five of one sept were all de- 
prived of their estates, without the least compensation, or ani/ means of subsistence 
assigned them .' .'" — Leland, II. 546, 



136 VINDICLE HIBERNICJ::. 

*' less than a fourth part" of the amount in " barren ground ! ! ! " To 
bring the matter home to an American reader,let us venture on another 
supposition in addition to the one in page 130 — let us suppose a descend- 
ant of William Penn, settled on the rich lands in Lancaster, Chester, 
or Delaware county, and owning one thousand acres, worth one hundred 
dollars per acre, expelled from thence, because the pious Solomon, 
James, found them " naturally strong and difficult of access," and 
THEREFORE "deemed himself entitled to make a distribution of three 
hundred and eighty-five thousand acres" of these lands to his parasites 
and minions ; banished to some of the barren lands in Northumber- 
land or Lycoming, receiving, in lieu of his paternal estate, two hundred 
and fifty acres, scarcely worth two dollars per acre; thus receiving 
five hundred dollars, as an equivalent for a hundred thousand. This 
is a very fair view of the equitable doctrine of equivalents, as studied 
and carried into practice by those upright agents of the pious James, 
who, to use the words of Leland, were employed "/o reduce''' those 
whom Carte styles savages " to order and subjection.'''' 

But the case of those wretched people, placed on the " barren lands," 
and with an equivalent of one-fourth of the number of acres whereof 
they were plundered, was not, it appears, the most grievous that 
occurred. We see, that of one single sept, or family, twenty-five were 
*' deprived of their estates " " without the least compensation, or any 
means of subsistence allotted theml'''' How many twenty-fives, how 
many hundreds, were thus turned out, it is impossible to ascertain. 
But it is not presuming very far, to suppose, as the one side was des- 
titute of defence, and the other of every sense of honour, honesty, and 
justice, that the cases were numerous ; and that there were hundreds, 
perhaps thousands, driven out of house and home, and turned loose on 
society, " without any means of subsistence allotted them." 

When the monarch of three powerful kingdoms, who ought to be a 
pattern of honour, honesty, and justice, and, as Sir John Davies de- 
clared, to have scorned to '■'■dispossess the meanest of his subjects 
wrongfully,''^ becomes a common depredator on their estates, and acts 
the part of a ravening wolf, instead of that of a vigilant shepherd, it is 
not wonderful that such portion of those subjects as form a privileged 
caste, should prey upon and devour the others. This has ever been, 
and ever will be, the result, in all analogous cases. 



CHAPTER XIII. 137 



CHAPTER XIII. 

" An act of most gracious, general, and free pardon,'''' with only 
fifty-one classes of exceptions, each averaging four or five 
species; that is, "a general pardon,'''' with about two hundred 
exceptions ! ! ! 

"Et voila justement comme on ecrit I'histoire." — Voi-TiiiRE. 

Among the multifarious frauds respecting Ireland, with which the 
world has been deluded, one of the most palpable remains^ to be 
noticed. • 

It is universally believed, on the uniform declarations of probably all 
the Anglo-Hibernian writers, that an act of general amnesiy, for all 
offences whatsoever, was passed by the Irish parliament, in the session 
which commenced anno 1613.* 

A perusal of the annexed quotations, and of all the writers I have 
ever examined on the subject, has led the world to give credit to 
James and his Irish parliament for an exuberant stock of clemency. 
It has appeared that the motto, and the benignant rule of their con- 
duct, had been Shakspeare's divine commendation of heaven-born 
mercy: 

" The quality of mercy is not strain'd : 

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heav'n 

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest — 

It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes." 

It is supposed that this act oi '^'^ general and free pardon'^ effaced all 
crimes and misdemeanors of every description ; was the harbinger of 
an universal jubilee throughout the kingdom; and, from the hour of its 
promulgationf produced a general clearance of the prisons of all their 
tenants, by whatsoever tenure immured. But, alas ! in Ireland, words 
bore an import diff"erent from what they had in any other country : and 
" an act of general pardon,''' in that ill-fated nation, was, in truth and 
in fact, an act of universal proscription: for in that parliament and 
king, towards Ireland, 

" There was no more mercy, than milk in a male tiger." — Shakspeahe. 

This assertion will appear ambiguous : but the ambiguity shall be 

— •"^© ® ©♦«•— 

* " The session concluded with an d.ci oi oblivion and general pardon" — Cahte, 
I. 22. 

" An act of general pardon and oblivion was made in confirmation of the royal 
edict." — Leiand, II. 535. 

" They passed an act of general indemnify for late crimes, with an exception of 
Tyrone Tyrconnel, and O'Dogherty." — Davies, xxv. 

" An act oi general amnesty and pardon was made, in confirmation of the royal 
edict." — Gordon, I. 327. 

" An act oi general oblivion and indemnity was passed." — Crawfokd, I. 347. 
• " All minds being quieted by z. general indemnity." — Hume, III. 308. 

18 



138 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC.^. 

soon removed. The act in question bears, it is true, in the statute- 
book, the fraudulent title of "an act for the king's majestie's most 
gracious, general, and free pardon.^''* This is as clear and explicit 

* Extracts from " An Act for the king's 7najesiie^s most gracious, 
GENERAL AND FREE PARDON!!!" 
" The king's majestic, most graciously considering the good will and faithful 
hearts of his most loving subjects, which as at all times, so at this present especially, 
they having with most dutiful affection showed themselves towards his highness ; 
and understanding that the same his loving subjects have many and sundry wayes, 
by the laws and statute of this realm, fallen into the danger of diverse great penal- 
ties and forfeytures, is, of his princely and merciful disposition, most graciously in- 
clined, by his liberal and free pardon, to discharge some part of those great paynes, 
forfeytures and penalties wherewith his said subjects stand now burdened and 
charged ; trusting they will be Wiereby the rather moved and induced, from hence- 
forth, more carefully to observe his highness's laws and statutes, and to continue in 
their lo^al and due obedience to his majestic ; and therefore his majestie is well 
pleased and contented, that it be enacted by the authority of this present parliament, 
in manner and form following, (that is to say,) that all and every the said subjects, 
as well spiritual as temporal of this his highness's realm of Ireland, the heyres, suc- 
cessors, executors, and administrators of them, and every of them, and all and singular 
bodies corporate, cities, shires, boroughs, hundreds, baronies, townes, villages, hamlets, 
and tythings, and every of them, and the successor and successors of every of them, 
shall be, by the authority of this present parliament, acquitted, pardoned, and released, 
and dis- charged against the king's majestie, his heyres and successors, and every of 
them, of all manner of treasons, felonies, offences, cojitempts, trespasses, entries, 
■wrongs ,deceipts, misdemeanours, forfeytures, penalties, and summs of mony, paynes 
of death, paynes corporal and pecuniarie, and generally of all other tilings, causes, 
qiiai'rels, suites, Judgements and executions, in litis prese7it act hereafter not ex- 
cepted nor fureprized. 

1. " Excepted and alwayes foreprized out of this general and free pardon, all and 
all manner of Ingli treasons, and other offences committed or done by any person 
or persons against the king's majestie, and all conspiracies and confederacies, tray- 
terously had, committed, or done, b}' any person or persons, against the king's ma- 
jestie's royal person ; and all manner of levying warre and all rebellions and insur- 
rections whatsoever had, made, or committed, or done at any time sithence the be- 
ginning of his majesty's raigiie. 

2. " And also excepted all and every manner of treasons committed or done, by 
any person or peasons in the parts beyond the seas, or in any other place out of the 
king's dominions, sitheuce the beginning of his majestie's raigne ; and also all suites 
punishments, executions, paynes of death, forfeitures, and penalties, for, or by reason 
or occasion of any of the treasons and oflences before rehearsed. 

3. " And also excepted out of this pardon, all offences of forging and false coun- 
terfeyting the king's majestie his great or privy scale, or sign manual, or privy sig- 
net, or any of the monies current within this realm ; and also all offences of un- 
lawful diminishing of any the said monies, by any wayes or means whatsoever, con- 
trary to the laws and statutes of this realm at any time sithence the beginning of his 
majestie's raigne : and also all misprisions and concealments of any the high treasons 
aforesaid : and also all abetting, aiding, comforting, or procuring of the same oflences, 
or any of the said treasons committed or done sithence the beginning of his majestie's 
raigne. 

4. "And also excepted out of this •^^xiS.ow, all manner of voluntary murders, 
petit treasons, atid -ivilfnll poisonings, done or comn>itted by any person or persons 
sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne, and all and every the accessaries to 
the said oflences, or any of them, before the said offences committed. 

5. " And also excepted and foreprized out of this general pardon all and every 
offence of piracy, and robbery done upon the seas, sithence the beginning of his 
majestie's raigne. 

6. " And also excepted out of this pardon all burglaries committed or done in 
any dwelling house or houses, and all accessaries to any the said burglaries, before. 



CHAPTER Xlir. 139 

as language could render it : and as the act itself is in black-letter, 
obsolete orthography, and very long, it is probable that those writers 
never examined beyond the title, or, at all events, beyond the pre- 

the said burglaries committed, within one year before the beginning of this present 
session of parliament. 

7. "And also excepted all robberies done upon, or to any man's or woman's 
person in the highway, or elsewhere, and all and singular accessaries of, or to any 
such robberies before the said robbery, committed within one year before the first 
day of this present session of parliament. 

8. " And also excepted the felonious stealing of any horse, gelding, garron, or 
mare, and all accessaries thereunto, before the same felony committed, and all judg- 
ments and executions of and for the same, within one year next before the beginning 
of this present session of parliament. 

9. " And also, all •wilfull biivniyigs of any dxvelling house or houses, or any barn 
or barns, wherein any corn was, committed or done at any time sithence the begin- 
ning of his majestie's raigne. 

10. "And also excepted all rapes and carnal rawshmeiits of women, and also 
ravishments and wilfull taking away or marrying any maide, widowe, or damosel, 
against her will, or without the assent or agreement of her parents, or such as then 
had her in custodie, committed or done within one year before the beginning of this 
present session of parliament. And also all offences of ayding, comforting, procur- 
ing or abetting of any such ravishment, wilfull taking away or marrying, had, 
committed, or done. 

11." And also excepted out of this pardon all persons now attainted or out la-wed, 
of or for any treason, petit treason, murder, wilfull poysonings, burglary, or robbery, 
and all executions of and for the same ! 

12. "And also excepted all offences of invocations, conjurations, •witchcraft, 
^oreceies, inchantments and charms, and all offences of procuring, abetting, or com- 
forting of the same, and all persons now attainted and convicted of any of the said 
offences, at any time sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne ! 

13. "And also excepted all and every manner or taking from the king's majes- 
tic, of any the goods or chattels, or the issues, rents, revenues or profits of any nian- 
nors, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, which were of any traytor, murderer, 
felon, clerke or clerkes attainted, or fugitives, or of any of them ! 

14. "And also excepted all goods and chattels, in any wise forfeited to the king's 
majestic by reason of any treason, petit treason, murder, or felony heretofore com- 
mitted or done ! 

15. "And also excepted all offcncca of or in making, writing, printing, or pub- 
lishing, or in consenting to the making, writing, printing or publishing, of any 

false, seditious, or slaunderous .book or books, libell or libells, in any wise against the 
king's majestic, or the present government of this realme, in cases either ecclesiasti- 
cal! or temporal!, or against any person or persons whatsoever. 

16. " And also excepted out of this pardon all intrusions, had or made, or done 
by any person or persons, in or upon any of the manners, lands, tenements, or other 
hereditaments of our said soveraigne lord the king; and all wastes done, committed 
or suffered upon any such lands, tenements, or hereditaments, and the wrongful! 
taking of any the rents, issues, and profits of the said manners, lands, tenements, or 
hereditaments, of our said sovereigne lord the king, at any time sithence the begin- 
ning of his majestie's raigne. And also all suites, accounts and impetitions, of and 
for the same! 

17. " And also excepted out of this pardon all alienations of any lands, tene- 
ments or hereditaments, without license, and all fines, issues and profits, that may 
or ought to grow or come to the king's majestic, by reason of any such alienations, 
without license, at any time sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne ! 

18. " And also excepted out of this pardon, all wastes committed or done, in any 
of the king's wards' lands, or in the wards' lands of any of the king's counties; and 
also all and every fine or fines, for the single and double value of the marriage or 
marriages of all and every ward or wards, at any time heretofore grown to the king's 
majestic, sithence the beginning of his majesty's raigne ! 

19. "And also excepted concealed -wards, and the lands of such wards con- 



140 VINDICL?: HIBERNIC^. 

amble, which carries the same delusive promise of clemency ; but with 
Shakspeare we may well exclaim, 

" Oh ! what a goodly outside falsehood hath !" 
And never was there more "falsehood" under a "goodly outside," 

cealed, and all liveries and primer seisins and ousterlemains, that ought to be had, 
done at sued for the same, sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne! 

30. " And also excepted out of this general pardon all raxnsJnnents and wroagfull 
taking or withholding any the king's ward or wards, lands or rents, and profits of 
the same, at any time coming or growing to the king's hands, sithence the begin- 
ning of his majestie's raigne ; and every thing that by reason of any such ward or 
wards' lands, and for default of suing or prosecuting, of any livery for any such 
wards' lands ought to come or to be to the king's majestic, and which as yet is not 
discharged ! 

21. "And also excepted all fines that should or ought to grow to the king's ma- 
jestic, of any his widdows that have married without license, sithence the beginning 
of his majestie's raigne ! 

2'2. " And also excepted and foreprized out of this pardon, all snck persons as, 
the last day of this present session of Parliament, be in prison, within the castle of 
Dublin, or in the prison of Marshalsie, or otherwise restrained of liberty by express 
commandment of the lord deputy, or by the commandment or directions of any his 
majestie's privy council ! 

23. "And also excepted out of this pardon all and every such person and per- 
sons which at any time sithence the beginning of the king's majestie's raigne, have 
Jled out of this realm of Ireland, or any other the king's dominions, for any offence 

of high treason, petit treason, or mispjision of treason ! 

24. " And also excepted all such persons as be gone or fled out of this realm, for 
any cause contrarie to the laws and statutes of this realm, without the king's majes- 
tie's license ! 

25. " And also excepted all such persons as have obtained and had license to de- 
part this realm, for a certain time, and now do abide out of this realm, without any 
lawful excuse, after the time of their licenses expired ! 

26. " And also excepted out of this pardon all and every concealments or wrong- 
full detainments of any custom or subsidie due to the king's majestie, sithence the 
beginning of his majestie's raigne, and all corruptions and misdemeanours of any 
officer or minister of or concerning any custom or subsidie, and all accompts, impe- 
titions,,and suites to be had, made, or done for the same! 

27. " And also excepted all and singular accompts of all and every collector and 
collectors of any subsidie, custom, imposition, composition or other thing; and all 
accompts of every other person whatsoever that ought to be accomptant to the 
king's highness, and the heirs, executors, and administrators of every such person 
that ought to accompt for all things touching only the same accompts ; and all and 
singular arrearages of accompts, and all untrue accompts, and all petitions, charges, 
and seisures, suits, demaunds, and executions which may or can be had, of or for 
any accompts or any arrearages of the same ! 

28. "And also excepted all titles and actions ofquare impedit, and all homages, 
reliefe and reliefcs, heriots, rents, services, rent charges, rent seeks, and the arreara- 
ges of the same, not done or paid to the king's highness ! 

29. "And also excepted all conditions and covenants, vcndi all penalties, titles and 
forfeytures of condition or conditions, covenant or covenants, accrued or grown to the 
king's majestie, by reason of the breach and not performing of any covenants or con- 
ditions ! 

30. "And also excepted all swnms of money granted by the king's majestie, or 
any his noble progenitors ; and all concealments, fraudes and offences by which his 
majesty hath been deceived or not truly answered of or for the same! 

31. "And also excepted out of this pardon all debtes which were or be due to 
our soveraign lord the king, or to the most noble queen Elizabeth, of famous memo- 
rie or to any person or persons for or to any of their uses, by any condemnation, re- 
cognizance, obligation or otherwise, other than such debts as are due upon any ob- 



CHAPTER Xlir. 141 

than in this instance. For, in the body of this "act of general and 
free pardon," there are no less than fifty-one classes of excep- 
tions, embracing almost every conceivable crime of which tlie stalute- 

ligation or recognizance forfeyted before the first day of this present session of Par- 
liament, for not appearance in any court or other place whatsoever ; or for not keep- 
ing of the peace, or not being of good behaviour, which debts growen and accrued 
upon these cases, by this free pardon be and shall be freely pardoned and discharged ! 

32. "And also excepted and foreprizcd outof this paixlon all aiid singular penal- 
ties, forfeytitres and summs of mnney, being due and accrued to our soveraign 
lord the king, by reason of any act, statute, or statutes : which forfeyturcs, penalties 
and summs of money be converted into the nature of debts, by any judgment, order 
or decree, or by the agreement of the offcndour or offcndours, sithence the beginning 
of the raigne of the late queen Elizabeth ! 

33. " And also excepted all forfeitures of leases and estates or interests of any 
lands, tenements, or hereditaments, holden of our soveraign lord the king's majestie 
by knight service, or in socage, in capite, or otherwise by knight service made in 
one or several assurances or leases for any term or terms of years, whereupon the 
old and accustomed rent or more is not reserved ! 

34. " And also excepted, all first fruits at this present being due to be paid to 
his majestie, by force of any act or statute or otherwise ! 

35. " And also excepted all penalties and forfeytures whereof there is any verdict 
in any suit given or past for the king's majestie ! ! 

36. " And also excepted all forfeytures and other penalties and profits now due, 
accrued and growen, or which shall or may be due, accrued or growing to the king's 
majestie, by reason of any offence, misdemeanour, contempt, or act or deed, suffered, 
had, committed, or done, contrary to any act, statute or statutes, or contrary to the 
common laws of this realm, and whereof or for the which any action, bill, plaint or 
information, at any time within eight years next before the last day of this present 
session of Parliament, hath been or shall be exhibited, commenced or sued in the 
courts of Castle|Chamber or in any of the king's majestie's'courts at Dublin, and now 
is, or the said last day of this session of Parliament, shall be there depending, and 
remaining to be prosecuted, or whereof the king's majestie, by his bill assigned, 
hath heretofore made any gift or assignment to any person or persons ! 

37. " And also excepted out of this general and free pardon all offences, con- 
tempts, disorders, covins, frauds, deceipts a^id misdemeanours whatsoever, hereto- 
fore committed or done by any person or persons, and whereof or for the which any 
suit by bill, plaint, or information, at any time within four years next before the 
last day of this present session of Parliament, is or shall be commenced or exhibited 
in the court of Castle Chamber, and shall be there the same last day of this session 
of Parliament depending, or whereupon any sentence or decree is given or entered ! 

38. "And also excepted out of this pardon all offences of perjuries and subor-r 
nation of witnesses, and offences of forging and counterfeiting of any false deeds, 
escriptes or writings ; and all procuring and counseUing of any such counterfeiting 
or forging to be had or made ! 

39. "And also excepted out of this pardon all offences of incest, adultery , forni- 
cation and simony, and all such usury for which any interest hath been received or 
taken since the first day of this present session of Parliament: and all misdemean- 
ours and disturbances committed or made in any church or chappel, in the time of 
common prayer, preaching or divine service there used, to the disturbance thereof; 
and all outlawries and prosecutions upon the same ! 

40. " And also excepted all offences whereby any person may be charged with 
the penalty and danger of premunire, and of the which offence or offences any per- 
son standeth already indicted, or otherwise lawfully condemned or convicted ! 

41. " And also excepted all dilapidations for which any suit is, or, before the end 
of this session of Parhament, shall be, depending ! 

42. " And also excepted all offences in taking away, imbeyselling, or purloynijig 
any the king's majestie's goods, money, chattels, jewels, armour, munition, ordinance, 
or other habiliments of warre ! 

43. "And also excepted out of this pardon all manner of extortions whatsoever! 

44. " And also excepted all covins, frauds, deceipts and other disorders and misde- 



142 VINDICLE HIBERNIC.^. 

book takes cognizance; and whicli, for the purpose of adding one more 
to the various proofs I have ah-eady adduced, of the iniidelity of the 
historians of Irish atfairs, are euunieratcd in the annexed note. 

meanours whatsoever, heretofore committed or done by any steward of his majestie's 
mannours or courts, under shcrille, or by any otllcer or minister in any of his high- 
ness courts, in or by reason or colour of any of their olhces or pUices, or any their 
deputys or cicrkes : and all offences of ayding, comforting, assisting or procuring of 
any under sheriffe or any such oti'icer, minister, or clerke, in continuing, doing or 
executing any such extortion, exaction, covin, fraud, dcccipt, disorder or misdemean- 
our ! 

45. " And also excepted out of this pardon all issues, fiiifx and amerciameMs 
being totted, levied or received by any sherifle, under shcrilte, baylitlb, minister or 
other oihcer, to or for the king's majestie's use or behoofe, before the last day of this 
present session of Parliament ; and all issues, Ihies and amerciaments afferred, taxed, 
estreated or entered severally or particularly, touching or concerning any one person 
or more persons joyntly or seveially, above the sum of six pounds ! 

46. "And also excepted all issues, fnics and americaments afVerved, taxed, set or 
entered severally or particularly in any court of record at Dublin, at any time 
sithence the feast of (Saint Bartholomew last past ; and yet nevertheless, all other 
fines, as wcW finis J>ro licentia concordamU, as other set taxed, estreated or entered 
afore the said feast of Saint Bartholomew ; and also all issues and amerciaments as 
well real as others, within any liberties or without, being set, taxed, estreated or en- 
tered afore the said feast of Saint Bartholomew, and which severally or particularly 
extend to or under the summ of six pounds, and not above, whether they be estreat- 
ed or not estreated, or whether they be turned into debt or not turned into debt, and 
not being totted, levied or recovered by any sherilTe, under sherilVe, minister or other 
officer, to or for the king's majestie's use or behoof, l)efore the last day of this pre- 
sent session of Parliament, shall be fre^jly, clearly and plainly pardoned and dis- 
charged against the king's majestic, his hey res and successours for ever, by force of 
this present act of free pardon ; and yet nevertheless, all estreats of such tines, is- 
sues and amerciaments as be noxv pardoned by this act, and be already estreated 
forth of the court of exchequer, and be remaining in the hand of the sherifle [un- 
der sherifle and baylifle for collecting of the same fines, issues and amerciaments, 
shall, upon the return of the same estreats, be orderly charged and delivered by 
scrowls into the olfice of the pipe in the court of exchequer, as heretofore has been 
accustomed, to the intent that thereupon order may be taken that his majestic may 
be truly answered in aU such fines, issues and amerciaments not by this act par- 
doned, and which any shcritle, under sherifle, baylifle or other oflicer or minister 
hath received or ought to answer for by force or colour of any such estreat, processe 
or precept to him or thera made for the levying thereof : and yet notwithstanding all 
and every sheriiTe and sheriftes and other accomptants, upon his or their petition or 
petitions, to be made for the allowance of any such fines, issues and amerciaments 
as, by this act pardoned, shall have all and every such his and their pctitiion allowed 
in his or their accompt and accompts, without paying any fee or reward to any 
officer, clerk or other minister, for the making, entering or allowing of any such pe- 
tition or petitions, any usage or custome to the contrary notwithstanding. 

47. "And also excepted out of this pardon all goods, chattels, debts, actions and 
suits already forfeited, or whereof any right or title is accrued and growen to the 
king's majestic by reason of any outlawry, and whereof the king's majestic, by liis 
highncss's letters patent, hath, before the last day of this present session of Parlia- 
ment, made any grant, covenant or proviso to any person or jiersons ! 

48. " And also excepted out of this pardon all such persons as be arid rernaiii 
still attainted or condemned, and not already pardoned, of or for any rebellion or 
levying of wxirre, of or for any conspiracy of any rebellion or levying of warro, 
within this realm, or in any other the king's dominions! 

49. "And also excepted all false forging and counterfeiting of any untrue certifi- 
cates. 

50. "And also excepted all false forging and counterfeiting of any commission 
or commissions to inquire of any lands, tenements or hereditaments : or return of 
any commission or commissions obtained or gotten of any court or courts to inquire 



CHAPTER Xlir. 143 

The extracts from this act are longer, perhaps, than are consistent 
with the nature of this work : but I trust they will be excused ; as no 
abridgment could do justice to the subject, or to the grand object I 
have in view, which is to open the eyes of every reader, who is not 
wilfully blind, to the undeviating fraud, falsehood, and imposture, per- 
vading the whole body of the Anglo-Hibernian histories of Ireland, 
as penned by those writers who have pandered to the passions, the 
prejudices, and the grinding tyranny of " the Protestant ascendancy" 
and contaminated and corrupted the history of Ireland to an extent 
unequalled in that of any other portion of the terraqueous globe. This 
object I feel proudly confident is accomplished, with such readers 
as have brought to the perusal of this work, a mind disposed to hail 
the appearance of holy Truth, in whatsoever form she may assume. 

I hope the reader will bear in remembrance the deceptions state- 
ment of this act, by neai'ly all the British historians, as he peruses 
some of the subsequent chapters, in which, from the nature of the sub- 
jects, the detection of imposture is rendered difficult, and, in fact, 
would be impossible, if the stupidity of the fabricators were not equal 
to their wickedness. Had their ingenuity amounted to a twentieth 
part of their fraud, they might have contrived tales so plausible as to 
bid defiance to detection, particularly at this remote period ; but fortu- 
nately their fabrications are concocted together with so much gross- 
ness and incoherence, such stupidity and folly, such obvious and pal- 
pable fraud and perjury and forgery, that it requires but moderate abili- 
ties to expose them, in all their naked deformity, to the contempt and 
loathing of every liberal mind. Had those tales, however, been de- 
vised with splendid talents equal to the atrocious wickedness of the 
contrivers, and furnished no internal evidence to condemn them, even 
in that case they would merit rejection ; as I have established in every 
instance which admitted of producing evidence, a total disregard of 
truth, and of the strongest and most palpable facts, in the historians 
who narrate them. This act of " gracious, general, and free pardon," 
would, if it stood alone, be sufficient to decide the question. It is re- 
corded in the statute-book ; open to the inspection of all the writers 
who have treated on it; and detection, like the well-known " sword of 
Damocles," hung over the head of imposture or sophistication. Yet, 
notwithstanding all these strong circumstances, we see that its real 
character is as diametrically opposite to the views given of it, as the 
pitchy darkness of the lowest regions of Erebus to the starry canopy 
of heaven. And will not every man of mind ask, what dependence, 
in points involved in doubt, obscurity, or mystery, such as plots and 
conspiracies, can be placed on writers who poison the pure streams of 
history, in such plain cases as this, and so many others which I have 
exhibited to the reader, where the fraud was too plain to escape the 
detection of the most superficial ? 

of any lands, tenements or other things whatsoever ; and all and all manner of falsify- 
ing of any particular, or of any bill or bills signed by his majestic after the ingross- 
ing thereof, and before the passing of the same unto the great seal ! 

51. " Provided also, and be it enacted by the authority of this present Parliament, 
that this act of general pardon shall not in any wise extend to any person outlawed 
upon any writ of capias ad satisfaciendum, until such time as the person so out- 
lawed shall satisfie, or otherwise agree with the party at whose suit the same persorx 
was so outlawed or condemned !" — Statutes, 325-333. 



144 VINDICLii HIBERNIC.E. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Graces. Solemn contract between Charles I. and his Irish Roman 
Catholic subjects. Faithfully fulfilled by the Irish. Perfidiously 
and piratically violated by Charles. 

" 1'imeo Danaos, et dona ferentesT * 

In a preceding page I have slightly glanced at the " graces " as 
they are incorrectly termed by all tlie writers of Irish history, during 
the reign of Charles I. They require further development, as they 
form a very important item at that period — but although repeatedly 
referred to and discussed, they are no where to be found fully detail- 
ed, except in Lord Strafford's Letters, where they are given at full 
length. 

These " graces " merely meant the removal of various grievances, 
some of them highly oppressive and intolerable, under which the nation 
had long groaned. Not one of them, in strict parlance, could, with 
propriety, be styled a "grace" or favour. They were all mere acts 
of justice. 

However, the Irish, as a premium for them, had pledged themselves 
to remit 150,000 pounds* which they had previously loaned to the 
king, and to furnish three subsidies, each of 40,000 pounds in the 
three succeeding years. This was as fair a contract as was ever made, 
and was religiously carried into effect by the Roman Catholics. 

Charles evaded the performance of his part of the contract by the 
following disgraceful, and fraudulent manoeuvre. 

The graces were to be digested by the Irish parliament into acts 
which were to be ratified in the usual form, by the British privy 
council. Lord Faulkland, the then Irish deputy, accordingly summoned 
a parliament to meet for the purpose of carrying the contract into effect: 
but, by two acts, passed under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, it had been 
ordained that no parliament should be held in Ireland, without " license 

—•■•>♦* ®^<"— 

* " The humble petition of your majesty's subjects, appointed agents to prefer 
certain humble requests and petitions to your highness, in the behalf of your kingdom 
of Ireland, 

" Humbly sheweth : 

"That your majesty's supplicants did, in behalf of your subjects of Ireland, offer 
unto your majesty to remit and release unto your highness 150,000/. or thereabouts, 
already borrowed from them, or paid to your majesty's army there ; and further to 
grant three subsidies, to be paid in the next three years, which humble offers your 
petitioners are now duly authorized to make ; as also to present certain huntble 
requests to your highness, according to the instructions given them of your majesty's 
faithful subjects of your kingdom of Ireland ; which offers, though they do not ex- 
tend to that greatness as from your highness's other more flourishing kingdoms, 
may be expected, yet, considering the state and poverty of the said kingdom, they 
are as much as the subjects are possibly able to afford at this time." — Rushworth, 
II. 17. 



CHAPTER XIV. 145 

obtained of his majesty, under the great seal of England ;" and with 
this formality Lord Faulkland had not complied, very probably as 
Leland intimates, by collusion between the monarch and his deputy. 
The privy council of England, determined not to waive any of their 
privileges, applied to the bench of judges for their opinion on the sub- 
ject, who pronounced the summons illegal and void.* 

At every step of our progress through the Irish history, we have to 
lament and censure the disingenuousness of the writers — the suppressio 
veri — the lenity they extend to the oppressors of Ireland, and the 
severity with which the}^ animadvert on the guilt, real or supposed, of 
the Irish. This is a striking case. Charles, we have seen, made a fair 
contract with his Irish subjects. They honourably performed their 
part. An informality prevented his immediate compliance. That in- 
formality it was in his power to remove, in the manner stated in the 
text : and his failure to adopt this measure, was as base and as fraudu- 
lent, as it would have been for a private person, who had sold a house, 
or a piece of land, and received the price, to refuse to make the deed, 
or convey the property. And how does Leland record this shameful 
fact? Why he smoothly informs us, that " Me king^s sincerity ap- 
peared at least suspiciousy\ And further : " The king stood engaged, 
that his graces should be confirmed by a law of parliament : and the 
insincerity of his professions was not yet completely discovered.''' % 
Had such a transaction taken place on the part of the Irish, all the 
powers of language would have been exhausted to brand them with 
infamy. 

The laxity of the early writers or compilers of history on the subject 
of dates, renders it difficult to fix the chronology of these facts with 
accuracy. It shall be done as far as practicable. 

The commission to the Irish agents who carried on the negotiation 
is dated August, 1627 ; and they arrived in London in September of 
that year. 

The negotiation probably lasted two months. I cannot find the date 
of Lord Faulkland's summons ; but the parliament was to have met 
in November, 1628. The opinion of the judges is dated, "Sergeant's 
Inn, October 2, 1628;" and the vote of the privy council against the 
meeting of the parliament, which does not appear in Rushworth, pro- 
bably issued immediately. But instead of the promised, the dearly- 
purchased graces. Lord Faulkland, early in the following year, issued 
a most outrageous proclamation, commanding all the priests, monks, and 
friars to disperse themselves, and to give up their convents, colleges, 
monasteries, and other places where they collegiately or conventually 
assembled ! ! ! 

This proclamation goes the full length of suppressing the public ex- 

* Extract from, the Opinion of the Judges. 
" We have taken into our consideration, the lord deputy's commission, wherein 
he hath power given him to summon the pailiament; but that is limited to be 
according to the laws, statutes, and customs of that kingdom, and with the king's 
consent first had, and not otherwise ; which hath not been observed in the summons 
of this intended parliament, in any of the points before-mentioned ; and therefore 
tfiis summons, notivitJistanding that potver, is illegal and void^ — Rdshwobth, 
IL 20. 

t Leland, 11. 570. X Idem, III. 3. 

19 



146 VlNDICIilJ 11IBEUNI(J-4J. 

crcisc of the Iionuui Ciilhulic rclinio)i, uUuii;ctlnr : lor llicir priests 
woro prohibiliul iVuia " celebrating- their service in any church, chapel^ 
or other ptiblic oratory or place whatcver.^^ 

And to aoifravalt! Uio scvcrily ol" this iiroccodiiij^, the j)roclainalion 
was ("ali'iilattHl to luuharizc tlio nation, by »lcl)arrinf> the j>reat body of 
them ol" education, and thus brinj^in;;' llu-ni up in l)riital ij^norance. Tho 
priests, wlio were at tliat period abnost the only seliooiniaslers in ihc 
kingilom, were i)rolubiled from '■'■ teaehinf^ school, in any place or 
places irhatsocver in the saiil kini^'doni.^' 'J'he n»ind sickens in 
tracing such constant, luivarying scenes of rapine, wicktHhiess, and 
tyranny, unrelieved by any tiling that can alford consohitiou on re- 
liection, or redeem th(^ character of tho government from richly-earneil 
execration. 

INo hinguagc can be too strong to mark the infamy of this transaction. 
Hundreds, probably thousands, of malefactors have expiated in gallies 
or on gibbets, crimes of inferior turpitude ! Instead of the fultilment 
of the contract, and the concession of the stipulated justice, they arc 
repaid foi their enormous contributions by a barbarous and anti-chris- 
tian persecution, and their churches, as shall be proved in Chapter 
XVlil., sacrilegiously j)luudered, seized, and some of them razed to the 
ground ! 

Tliat this whole all'air is as complete an exemplification of the Pu- 
nica fides as history can produce, will scarcely be denied by any candid 
man in Christendom. 

That it was a collusion on the part of the monarch, is reduced as 
near to certainty as is ])ossil)le. lUit he that as it may, the conduct of 
Charles is not susceptible of justification or apology. Had he been 
sincerely disposed to perform his eugagenieiits, as a man of honour, 
common honesty, or justice, the error, whether wilful or inadvertent, 
might have been remedied instantly. A new suinnions might have 
been issued the same day on wliic-h the privy council interposed its veto, 
and the promised "graces" might have received the due sanction with 
all tbe necessary forms. Ikit the perildious monarch was so far from 
performing this imperious act of justice, by summoning a parliament 
immediately, that none was held for about six years afterwards. 

I annex some of the principal " graces," that the reader may judge 
how moderate were the requisitions of the Irish — and how wicked and 
unjust was the evasion of coinidiance on the part of the monarch. Tiie 
objections on the right hand were made! by Stratford, in a communica- 
tion to the king, anno ItuM, as reasons for rejecting those sixteen, 
some of which are by far the most important of the whole, particularly 
the 25111. 

15th. 

" The subjects of that our rcahu arc to " Your majesty lost by this article six 

be ailniittcd to sue their liveries, ousti^r- thousand pounds a year in your court of 

lc-:naines, and other giants deju'iidiiig waids; and liy this time, if this article 

on our court of wards, taking only the had not been, your court of wards might 

oath hereunder expressed ; and any other yield mueh more than now it doth. And 

oath to be for])orne in that ease; and the liowbeit it may be continued as long as 

natives of that kingdom l)eing lawyers, may please your majesty, yet -we humbly 

and who were heretofore jjractised tliere, crave leave to ilisadvitse the passing of 

shall be admitted to jiraetise again, and iiiui act of jxtrlinmcnl for it, -which may 

all other natives of dial nation, that have coiiclinlc Ihc cru-wn absolnteltj in the 

been or shall be students at the inns of future ! And if this should bo continued, 



CHAPTER XIV. 147 

court in England for the space of five it would be an occasion that in a short 
years, and shall bring any attestation time no Protestant lawyer should be 
sufficient to prove the same, are also to "found to serve you upon your benches." 
be freely admitted by the judges there 
to practise the laws taking the said oath, viz. : 

I, A. B, do truly acknowledge, profess, testify and declare in my conscience, bo- 
fore God and the world, that our sovereign lord King Charles is lawful and rightful 
king of this realm, and of other his majesty's dominions and countries. And I will 
bear faithful and true allegiance to his majesty, his heirs and successors, and him 
and them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all conspiracies and at- 
tempts whatsoever, which shall be made against his or their crown and dignity, and 
do my best endeavour to disclose and make known unto his majesty, his heirs or 
successors, or to the lord deputy or other governors for the time being, all treasons 
and traitorous conspiracies, which I shall know or hear to be intended against his 
majesty, or any of them. And I do make this recognition and acknowledgment 
heartily, willingly and truly, upon the true faith of a Christian. So help me God." 
— SXBAFiOnD, I. 317. 

16lh. 

" AU compositions in the court of " We do not judge it fit that your 

wards, alienations made bona fide for majesty should pass this into a law, or 

valuable considerations, intrusions, pre- that under colour of this grace, your 

mier seisins, ouster-le-mains and liveries officer.^ and rnininters of the court of 

are to be reduced and limited to the -wards should be rentruinedfi-om making 

eighth part of the true value of the Just improvements iipon that branch of 

lands and hereditaments so to be com- your majesty's revenue ! that in their 

pounded for; and all wardships and cus- judgment and conscience they take to be 

iodies of lands during the minority of equal and indifferent. And so unfit it is 

our wards, are to be moderately valued to be passed as a law, as it is advised, it 

according to the discretion of the judges may not continue as an instruction, so 

of that court. Provided, that if any extreamly prejudicial it is to the crown, 

alienation shall be made, whereby we in regard of the abatements it may beget 

shall be prevented of premier seisin, and in those improvements which may be 

relief and of wardship, and that suflicient- justly raised by your majesty's officers 

ly proved, in all such cases our said for your just advantage !" 
court of wards is not to be restrained to 

the limitation of the rates of the alienations, as aforesaid ; but our officers of the 
same are to impose such reasonable rates and values as may recompense us in some 
measure of those duties and profits, which otherwise should liave accrued unto us, 
if no alienation to uses had been made." 

17th. 

" Our court of wards is not to make " We may not by any means advise 
any enquiry further than to the last de- that this may pass for a law !" 
ceated ancestor, except it be by special 
direction from us." 

18th. 
" All escheators and feodaries are to be " JVot to pass into a laiv ! but to be re- 
specially directed, where any freeholder's commended to the court of wards, thSt 
estate in land doth not exceed the worth the benefit of this grace may be gathered 
of five pounds English yearly in the true by the subjects according to the purport 
improved value, to return the offices and intent thereof." 
taken of such lands into the proper 

courts without charge to the subject, or other fees to any court or officer, save only 
ten shillings to the officer that shall take and return the office; but no charge is to 
be set upon the said lands, nor any process to issue upon the said inquisitions, but 
only for our reliefs due upon their tenures. Provided, that if any such freeholder 
have the value of one hundred marks English, in chattels real, or offices, then this 
grace is not to be extended to him, although his estate in lands be under five pounds 
per annum." 



148 MNDICLi: HIBERNK^^J. 

19lh. 

" In general leaJing cases, that coinf. " JVot to be fmisseil an a liitv, but fit to 
is to be regulated according to the hiws be recommended to the care of the court 
and courses practised here in Enghind, of wards, tliat matters may l)e so carried 
whereof our judges here shall deliver as your majesty may not be prejudiced in 
tlieir opinions, if it shall be desired, your tenures nor any just occasion of 
And our judges of that court there are to complaint given to your subjects." 
nominate some of the best (|uulity of the 

several counties to be joined in commission with the feodary or escheator to take in- 
quisitions." — .Stuai roiii), I. U18. 

24th. 

" For the better settling of our sub- " This being passed into a law wilj 

jects' estates in that kingdom, we are hinder the elVects of advantage to your 
pleased that t/ie Uk<^ act of ifrace shall majesty, which, with great reason and 
pasn in the next parliament there touch- justice are expected from the commisxion 
ing the liiuitatiun of our titles not to e.v- of grace no-io by your goodness on foot 
tend above threescore years, as did pass for cunfirmution of defective titles. It 
here the 21 .lacobi, wherein arc; to be ex- will utterly cut oil" all ancicMit titles of all 
ce])ted the lauds wbercunto we :u(! luti- kinds. It will i)revent all plantations, 
tuled by oHices already taken, and those and conseipiently hinder all improve- 
already disposed of by our directions, ments, that may otherwise be raised to- 
And we arc further graciously pleased wards defraying the cluirgc of the army, 
for a more ample testimony of our good- and other public charges depending on 
ness to our sulyecls of that kingdom to the revenues of the; crown. It will hin- 
direct hereby, that from henceforth no dcr the means which may otherwise bo 
advantage be taken for any title accrued found for strengthening the province of 
to us threescore years past, and above, Connaught, wbitdi is now tlm weakest 
except only to such lands in tbi; King's ])art of this kingdom, and which is so 
county and t^ueen's county, wheriuinto situate in resjicct to the seii, having many 
we are intituled by ollices already taken convenient harbours and aj)! 'ports for 
within the said term of threescore years, shipping, as by a plantation there may be 
and which are not yet granted nor law- made ])laces of great strength and corn- 
fully conveyed from us and our crown." merce. If the plantations be hindered, 

then a priiieijial means of civilizing the 
people and planting religion -will be taken away I ! And lastly, which is not least 
considerable, it will destroy your tenures and consequently much diminish your 
revenves arising that way ! ! We may not therefore in any sort advise, that this 
may pass for a law, and the rather in regard the benelit thereby expected by the 
people, shall be conv(!yed to them in another way of less prevention to the future 
public good of the kingdom in general than tlu! law desired ; namely, by your ma- 
jesty's commission of grace for confirmation of defective lilies, which now will re- 
settle all men's estates after the distemjxirs and <listurbances, which they have en- 
dured by the late rebellions here. And considering that in the last sessions of par- 
liament an act hath passed, whereunto the royal assent is given, for confirming all 
estates to Ix^ ])assed on that commission; which commission, according to your gra- 
cious intendiMcnt, shall be carried with all the moderation that possibly may be, as 
well in the rates as otherwist^ ; Ibis course is conceived to be a much mon; general 
provision, and to such as coni))ound upon this commission a far belter security in 
#ieir own private fortunes and estates than tlic law in England, which concludes 
the rights of the crown upon threescore years possession; and yet nevertheless, after 
this commission shall, in a moderate and mild way, have taken such ciliect as is fit, 
whereby ibis kingdom may, in some degree, be brought nearer to the condition of 
England than it i)r(!sently stan<ls, as it will be then more capable of it, so may it 
then also haVe that law, which is now desired, if your majesty in your wisdom shall 
«o think lit." 

» 25tll. 

" We are graciously pleased and ac- " This may take away both the planta- 

cordingly do hereby require you, that tion and tenures of Connaght, and there- 

you give present order for the inhabitants fore as well for that as for the other rea» 

of Connaght, and county of Thomond, sons mentioned in our advice concerning 



CHAPTER XIV. 149 

and county of Clare, to have their sur- the request made on the last preceding 
renders, made in the time of our late article ; and for that the monies paid by 
most dear father, inroUcd in our chancery tliose of (JonnngJit, (which was the se- 
there, as of the time of our said father, cret motive inducing this grace,) -were in 
according to the date of the said sur- truth given for the intrusioiis, aliena- 
renders, allowing what fees were former- tions, and mean rates then past and due 
ly paid for the same: and that such of to your majesty, without ground or in- 
them, as please to make new surrenders tention to conclude the rights of the 
of their lands and hereditaments, may crown in point of inheritancfe, either for 
have the same accepted of them, and in- land or tenure, we would not advise that 
rolled in the said court, and thereupon this should pass as a law." 
new letters patents passed unto them 

and their heirs according to the true intent of our father's letters in that behalf, pay- 
ing half fees ; and that they and every of them may have such farther assurances 
J'or securiiig of their several estates from all ancient titles accrued unto our crown 
before threescore years last past, as shall be requisite, and reasonably devised by 
their counsel. And we are pleased, for their further security, that their several 
estates, shall be confirmed unto t/iem arid their heirs against us, our heirs and 
successors, SJc. by an act to be passed i7i the next parliament to be holden in Ire- 
land, to the end the same may never hereafter be brought into any further ques- 
tion by us, our lieirs and successors. In which act of parliament and letters patents 
so to be passed, you are to take care, that all tenures in capite, and all rents and 
services as are now due, or which ought to be answered unto us out of the said 
lands and premises by any letters patents passed thereof since the first year of 
Henry VIII. or found by any oflica taken from the said first year of Henry VIII. 
until the 21st of July, IBlij, whereby our late dearest father, or any his predecessors 
actually received any profit by wardship, liveries, premier seisins, mean rates, ouster- 
le-mains, or fines for alienations without licence, be again reserved unto us, our 
heirs and successors: and all the rest of the premises to be holden of our castle of < 
Athlonc by knight's service, according to our said late father's letters, notwithstand- 
ing any tenures in capite, found for us by office since the said 21st of July, 1G15, 
and not appearing in any such letters patents or^ offices. And you are likewise to 
set down order, that all seizures and injunctions issued, and all compositions, leases, 
and custodiums made and passed of or for any of the said lands, not grounded upon 
the tenures appearing in the said letters patents or offices between the said first year 
of Henry VIII. and the 21st of July, 1615, shall be called in, and to all purposes 
made void, so far forth as we are advantaged by the tenure found in capite ; and 
that no further proceedings hereafter be had upon any other offices taken since the 
21st of July, 1615, nor upon any offices taken before the 21st of July, 1615, unless 
"We or our predecessors received profit by the said offices taken before the said 21st 
of July, 1615. In which act of parliament and grants, care is to be taken, that our 
royal composition due for all the lands and hereditaments in the aforesaid province 
of Connaght, county of Thomond, and county of Clare, may be saved ; and it is 
our pleasure likewise, that the benefit of our said father's letters, and the act of state 
dated 14 May 1618, touching the intrusions, alienations, mean profits, &c. of lands 
in that province be in all points allowed to our said subjects." 

30th. 

"The taking of the accusations and "We conceive it is fit, that this be 

testimonies of persons notoriously infa- wholly left to the consciences of the jury 

mous, convicted of treason, or other capi- and ordinary care of the judges in like 

tal offences for any convincing evidence cases, and not needful to be provided for 

to condemn any subject, is to be regulat- by a law." 
ed according to the said printed instruc- 
tions." 

31st. 

" No judges or commissioners shall " There needs no such instruction, but 

bind over any jurors to any court what- this to be intrusted upon the justice and 

soever, unless it be for very apparent integrity of the judges, as the cases shall 

suspicion of corruption or partiality." require." 



150 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^. 

33cl. 

" But one provost marshal is to he. in " This is fit to be intrusted with those 
a province, because lie hath a sullicient who arc by your majesty trusted with 
number of horse in our pay for the exe- tiic government, and hath been done 
cution of that place ; and the said pro- witii that moderation, as there is no cause 
vest marshal is to take no money for of complaint and shall be still so kept." 
booking, nor cess his horse or foot with- 
out paying, for it in such sort as is ordered for our soldiers; and such as may bo 
brought to trial of law are not to be executed by the marshal, except in time of war 
or rebellion." 

38tli. 

" No judge nor commissioners shall " In this we conceive, that the intcgri- 

grant reprisulx to noldi-ious malcfacturs, ty and wisdom of the judges may safely 

but with the advice of the justices of the Ijc trusted." 
peace of the county, them assisting, or a 

Competent number of them." * 

.'iOth. 

**J\'o gratits of intrusions or aliena- " This is already performed and fitter 

■tions, or leases oj' mens' lands are lo be in our opinion to bo continued by your 

made out of that court [of wards] to unij majesty by instruction to the court of 

before the partij interested shall have wards than by a law." 

personal luarning', and affidavit return- • 

ed thereof, who is to be preferred before any other, if he come in the next term 
after the office is returned, and will accept it, at the rates thought fit by the court." 

42t'l. 

*'No person, against whom any judg- " Protections are granted so sparingly 
ment and execution hath passed in course and with such caution as since the en- 
of common law, or decree in chancery; trance of me the deputy into this govern- 
upon matter of equity, is from henec^i'orth ment there has been no complaint there- 
to have any protection granted to him; of; and it shall be still carried with that 
nor any flying out of England into Ire- tenderness and moderation, as there shall 
Jand, to defraud or shun the prosecution be no just cause of complaint in that 
of his creditors, is to be sheltered or pro- kind ; and sometimes such may be the 
tected from the justice of the law under circumstances in some particular cases, 
colour of being a soldier in any of our as thenj is no reason, as we conceive, 
companies in that our kingdom," that your majesty's power should be al- 
together concluded," 

43d. 

*' No witness between party and party " There is no reason to put a cause- 

at sessions or assizes, or before any com- less prejudice upon your majesty's min- 

missioners whatsoever, are to be bound isters of justice, to whose care and integ- 

over to the castle chamber, and if infor- rity, we conceive, matters of this nature 

mation be .put in against any such, then are fit to be left without any further law 

a relator to be named, who shall be or instruction, than the ordinary course 

thought sufliicient to answer a recom- and practice of the courts, and the obli- 

pence to the party informed against ac- gation of their duties in their places." 
cording to the award of the court, if sutli- 
cient ground shall not appear of the in- 
formation ." 

44th. 

" Soldiers accused of capital crimes arc " If this were, there should be no need 

to be left to be proceeded withal accord- of a general and consequently no exer- 

ing to the law. And the commissions cise or discipline in the army. And 

for reforming and restraining the abuses therefore we conceive it is unfit to pass 

and oppressions of soldiers (such as have either as a law, or as an instruction ; the 



CHAPTER XIV. 151 

lately issued under our great seal there) ground of the commission then on foot 
are to be directed especially to persons being occasional and now determined." 
of quality having freehold and residence 

in the county, and such matters as cannot be ordered by them to be especially de- 
termined by a committee of the judges and others of our counsel to be nominated 
by you, of which none are to be captains of horse or foot." 

49th. 

"JVb extraordinary -ivarrant of as- " This course is already held, and may 5^ 
sistance touching clandestine marriages, be continued as a grace as long as your 
christenings, or burials, or any cmitu- majesty shall think fit ; but we hold it 
niucies pretended against ecclesiastical unnecessary that any new law be made 
Jurisdiction, are to be issued by the lord concerning it." 
deputy, or any other governors, 7ior exe- 
cuted ; nor are the clergy to be permitted' to Jceep any private prisons of their 
own ybr i/jose ca?«es ; but the delinquents in that kind are henceforth to be com- 
mitted to our public goals, and that by our officers, according to the ordinary pro- 
ceedings of the law ; and all unlawful exactions taken by the clergy, are to be re- 
formed and regulated by the commission there, before mentioned." 

A perusal of the preceding extracts from what were styled "the 
graces," purchased by two hundred anfl seventy thousand pounds ster- 
ling, equal, I repeat, at the present value of money, to 6,000,000 of dol- 
lars, would, in the absence of all other testimony, satisfactorily establish 
the horrible oppression under which the Irish groaned, and the utter 
fallacy of all the historical statements of the happiness of the nation, 
and the security of property. It appears from the premises that jurors 
and witnesses were subject to prosecution and punishment, at the dis- 
cretion of the judges, when their evidence or verdicts were unsatis- 
factory to these magistrates — that the evidence of convicted felojis was 
received against persons accused of crimes ! ! — that the clergy of the 
established church had prisons in which they confined those who 
were subject to ecclesiastical censures 1 1 ! — and that sixty years peace- 
able possession of estates afforded no security to the nobility, gentry, 
and other landholders ! 

It appears from an examination of the objections made by Strafford, 
that he was determined, as far as possible, to remove all restraints 
from deputies, judges, justices, and all the officers of the crown, in 
order to leave as wide a door open to oppression and depredation as 
possible. On no other principle, can we reasonably account for his 
opposition. 

It is irksome to be obliged to point out at almost every step, the 
monstrous errors of the writers of Irish history. If the repetition be 
unpleasing to the reader, it is equally so to the writer, whom nothing 
but imperious necessity could impel to this course. Carte, in defiance 
of facts thus incontestibly established, has left on record that the 
deputy rejected " only two'' of the graces ! ! !* and further, that " the 

— '"»aOft t i " ' 

* " In t-wo points only" — yes, reader, these are the very words of this veracious 
historian — " in two points only the lord deputy thought fit to deny the request of 
the commons — the one, for limiting the king's title to sixty years backwards — the 
other, for enrolling the former surrenders, and passing new patents of estates in the 
province of Connaught and the county of Clare, not thinking them expedient for 



153 VINDICL5D HIBERNIC.^. 

subject had the benefit of all those graces, so far as was compatible 
vnth honour, justice, and the benefit of the commonwealth ! I .'"* It is 
scarcely possible to conceive of a more flagrant violation of truth, and 
in a case so plain and palpable, as to be level Avith the commonest ca- 
pacity. What! was it inconsistent with "honour, justice, and the 
good of the commonwealth," that subjects who had paid enormous 
sums to be relieved from the uncertainty of their titles — the depreda- 
tions of their king, his deputies, and their fellow subjects — and from 
•the utter ruin that so fiequently followed those depredations, should 
be defrauded of the quid pro quo? 

With respect to the graces, Strafford was guilty of a gross, palpable 

the kingdom in its present situation, or either 7iecessury or C07ive7iient to be enact- 
ed at that time." — Carte, I. 81. 

* " In the 4th article they complain of the subjects being denied the benefit of 
the royal graces, (An. 1G38,) in all the material parts thereof, particularly of the 
statute of limitations. Whereas it had been made appear to the last parliament 
(•that was held in Ireland, that the subject Jiad the benefit of all those graces, so far 
as -was consistent tvith honour, justice, and the benejit of the coTnmonwealth .' and 
they were then well satisfied in this point. And as for the statute of limitations 
proposed, the council of Ireland upon solemn debate, adjudged it inexpedient for the 
kingdom, and unfit to be passed,"}' and as the end of it was answered by t/ie com- 
inissio>i for remedy of defective titles^ confirmed by act of pai'liament, by which 
great numbers had, and every body might have, upon easy rents, absolutely secured 
their estates ; so the enacting of it now would turn only to the benefit of such as 
had stood out, and not contributed any thing to the moderate and just improvement 
of the revenue of the crown ; besides, as tliat statute -was proposed before Jug 
majesty -was informed of his just title to a co?isiderable quantity of lands in Con- 
nauglit and tlie counties of Clare, Tipperary, and Limerick,^ and which since 
had been justly found by inquisitions legally taken ! ! ! freely acknowledged, and volun- 
tarily submitted to by the pretended possessors; so it would lessen tlie revenue of 
the crown above 20,000/.|l a year ! and debar the king of a great and effectual means 
of strengthening and civilizing a great part of the kingdom, and of bringing com- 
merce, industry and religion, If into those parts by the intended plantation, for the 
preparing whereof very great pains had been taken, and large sums of money ex- 
pended." — Cakte, I. 109. 

t The council of Ireland, of whom the majority were among the most active depre- 
dators on the Irish, were utterly unfit to be trusted to decide on tliis important question. 

i This is a gross inis-statenicnt. 15y the commission for the remedying of defective 
titles, the possessors of estates which had been for 2, 3, 4, or 500 years in their families, 
■were often obliged to give up one-third or one-half of them to procure patents for the 
residue ; wiiereas by a statute of limitations no claim could go beyond sixty years un- 
disturl)ed possession. 

§ This is a miserable quibble, unworthy of an historian. The king knew that his 
father had passed an act, to Ibis eftect ; and he knew a fact of far more importance, that 
he had received a most liberal payment for this among other articles of the graces — 
and that it was a violation of every principle of " Itonour and justice" to fail in the per- 
formance of his contract. 

II This oidy shows the enormous extent to which depredation had been carried, and 
instead of an argument for the continuance of the spoliation, afforded a conclusive 
reason for its instant repeal. As well might a smuggler or a highwayman, who cleared 
by his illicit practices, 20,000/. a ye.nr, insist on continuing his career on the ground 
of the loss he would sustain by tiie abandonment of it, as Charles object to limiting his 
claims to sixty years, on account of the loss of revenue which he would suffer from 
the discontinuance of his depredations. 

1 This is miseral)le hypocrisy, a cloak to cover a system of fraud worthy of a band 
of pirates. A perusal of Chapter IX. will show how utterly the interests ot religion 
•were neglected in Ireland, and the deplorable state of the established church at the 
time when this luetended solicitude for religion was pleaded as a leading motive with 
the adminisU-alion for their spoliations. 



CHAPTER XIV. 153 

falsehood. He sent to Charles I. the whole document as agreed on 
between that monarch and the Irish Catholics, with the remarks of 
the existing parliament, accompanied, as we see, by his own observa- 
tions on, and objections to, the greater part of them. Yet he boldly- 
asserted to the parliament, that he would not transmit the item for 
limiting the claimfi of the crown to sixty years, " or any other of the 
graces prejudicial to the crown."* 

Of all the so-called graces, the 24th, which limited the claims of the 
crown to sixty years, was by far the most important. The Irish had 
been above a century harassed by inquiries into defective titles, and 
been robbed and plundered by the government and by individuals to 
a most enormous extent, unparalleled in any other country in the world. 
They had made a solemn contract with Charles I. in 1628, whereby 
they agreed to remit the payment of a loan of 150,000/. and to furnish 
three subsidies of 40,000/. each, for some acts of justice, which by 
a misnomer were styled " graces." They were by a miserable 
piece of chicane basely defrauded of the quid pro quo, to the eternal 
dishonour of Charles. Under the administration of Lord Strafford, in 
1633, the subject was resumed, and he, lawless and unprincipled, un- 
dertook to refuse several of those "graces:" among the rest, the two 
principal; of which one was, tliat sixty years quiet possession should 
in Ireland, as in England, bar all claims to land, on the part of the 
crown — the other, that patents for land should be granted to the no- 
bility and gentry in Connaught, for which they had duly paid, but 
which had not issued merely through the negligence or fraud of the 
clerks in office. And for the king or his minister to take advantage of 
this neglect on the part of their own officers, was as fraudulent, and as 
base a trick, as it would be in a merchant who had received payment 
for a vessel or cargo, but had not given a receipt for the amount, to en- 
deavour to swindle the honest bona fide purchaser out of the article 
purchased and honourably paid for. But Strafford, possessed by the 
most insatiable spirit of rapine, and contemplating that stupendous 
scheme of depredation, the plantation of Connaught, whereby the 
landed proprietors of that province were to be despoiled of a third, or 
a fourth part of their estates, peremptorily rejected the fulfilment of the 
contract, and took upon himself the whole odium of the infamous mea- 
sure, and this is the rapacious satrap over whom Hume, one of the 
most celebrated English historians, cants and whines as if he were an 
Aristides, and were as wickedly sacrificed as De Witt. Charles I., with 
a destitution of honour and honesty worthy only of a buccaneer, rejoiced 
to be freed from the performance of his contract, and to find his favour- 

—•»►»«©»♦««— 

• " We are resolved, not only privately to transmit our humble advices upon 
every article of the graces, but on Tuesday next to call this committee of the com- 
mons before us, and plainly tell them, we may not tvith our faith to our master 
ffive -way to the transmitting of ttiis laiv of threescore years, or a7iy other of the 
graces prejudicial to the crown; nay, must humbly beseech his majesty they may 
not be introduced to the prejudice of his royal rights, and clearly represent unto the 
king, that he is not bound, either in justice, honour, or conscience to grant them. 
And so putting in ourselves mean betwixt them and his majesty's pretended en- 
gagemeiits .' .' / take the hard part wholly from his majesty and bear it ourselves, as 
well as we may ; and yet no way conclude his majesty to apply all the grace to him- 
self, which yet I trust he will not inlarge further than stands with wisdom, reason, 
and the prosperity of his own affairs." — Sthaffokd, 279. 

20 



154 VINDICIJS HIBERNIC^. 

ite assuming the disgrace of the transaction, of which his Irish sub- 
jects were the victims, wrote him with his own hand a letter of the 
most unqualified approbation. 

" Wentworth, 
" Before I answer any of your particular letters to me, I must tell you that your 
late public despatch has given me a great deal of contentment ; and especially for 
keeping off the envy of a necessary negative from me of those unreasonable graces 
that people expected from me.* 

CHARLES R." 

For this fraudulent proceeding, Carte presents the following apo- 
logy:— 

" They were, indeed, both of them contrary to the intention of the commission 
then on foot /or the remedy of defective titles, and would have raised great difficul- 
ties in the execution of it. This was a work the deputy had exceedingly at heart, 
as well for the improvement and settling of his majesty's revenue, as fur securing 
the estates and quieting the minds of the subjects universally throughout the kiiig- 
rfoffi /.'.' .'"—Carte, I. 31. 

It would be difficult to find a more complete specimen of absurdity 
and sophistry than is here displayed. The committee for the remedy 
of defective titles, was in its operation a committee for finding 
flaws in titles, and depredating on the possessors of lands — a system 
which, I repeat, had been carried to the most oppressive extent for a 
century, and harassed and plundered half the gentlemen in the king- 
dom. The chief " grace" in question, was to put an end to this 
wretched and oppressive system of depredating by antiquated claims, 
derived from the days of Henry II. or III. or IV. or V. Its object 
was to bar any claim on the part of the crown of an earlier date than 
sixty years. And yet Carte believed, or affected to believe, and de- 
sired to persuade his readers, that the refusal of so very equitable a 
regulation, arose from a desire of ^'' secicring the estates and quieting 
the minds of the subjects universally throughout the kingdom,! P'' 
whereas its obvious and inevitable tendency was to produce an effect 
diametrically opposite, and to unhinge the titles and " disquiet the 
minds of the subjects universally throughout the kingdom." 

* Strafford, I. 331. 



CHAPTER XV, 1 55 



CHAPTER XV. 

Corruption ayicl fraud in the election of members of parliament. 
Judges of election return themselves. Outlaws and non-residents 
elected. Forty new boroughs created at once in mean and insig- 
nificant places. Injustice, particdity, and pedantry of James I. 
Despotism of Strafford. Dublin election. Case of Sir Piers Crosby. 
Poyning^s law. 

" Hence charter'd boroughs are such public plagues, 
And burghers *** a loathsome body, only fit 
For dissolution." — Cowpek. 

*' Such a house of commons *** is but an indecent mockery of the common sense 
of the nation." — Junius. 

The seventh chapter presented a sketch of the frauds practised in 
the elections of two parliaments held under Elizabeth. Those that 
took place in the elections for two held under James I. and Charles I. 
remain to be stated. 

The first of these parliaments was held anno 1613. The whole 
number of boroughs represented, previously to that period, was thirty; 
but for this parliament, in order to secure an overwhelming majority, 
there were forty new boroughs created, in places where the govern- 
ment had decided influence, and nearly the whole in shabby, con- 
temptible hamlets,* which had not the least claim to a represenlation.t 

The chief of these boroughs were incorporated immediately before 
issuing the writs for the election; but it being found that even with 
this reinforcement, the ascendancy of the government would be doubt- 
ful, with a most hardened and profligate disregard of even the forms 
of justice, many boroughs were incorporated after the writs had been 
issued, lest the recusants should have a majority of the members.! 

Sir John Davies feebly attempts to palliate this outrage on justice ; 

* " A number of new boroughs, most of them inconsiderable, and many of them 
too poor to afford wages to their representatives, must be entirely influenced by 
government, and must return its immediate creatures and dependents. Such an ac- 
cession of power could not fail to encourage the administration to act without re- 
serve, and pursue the dictates of its passions and resentments." — Leland, II. 519. 

■}- The petition of the lords to King James, states the existence of " a fearful sus- 
picion, that the project of erecting so many corporations in places that can scantly 
pass the rank of the poorest villages in the poorest country in Christendom, do 
tend to nought else at this time, but that, by the voices of a feiv, selected for the 
piirpose, under the name of burgesses, extreme penal laws should be imposed upon 
your subjects here." — Idem, 531. 

t " The deputy continued to increase the new boroughs to the number of forty, 
of which several were not incorporated, until the writs for summotdng a parliament 
had already issued!" — Idem, 522. 



156 VINDICIiE HIBERNICiE. 

but with about the same success as attended his elaborate vindication 
of the Ulster spoliation.* 

How barefaced an undertaking! To defend so profligate a measure, 
as the creation of "forty boroughs, or thereabouts, at once, graciously 
and justly,'''' and in such mean and contemptible places,! for the pur- 
pose of overruling the voice of the real representatives of the nation, 
and enabling the government to pass what laws it pleased! How 
self-condemned he must have felt! 

The word '■'■thereabouts'''' deserves consideration. It is highly 
probable, although there are at present no means of ascertaining the 
fact, that the number of new boroughs greatly exceeded forty, which 
number, or even half the number, would be abundantly sufficient to 
establish the gross iniquity of the whole proceeding. Sir John states 
the number of counties, towns and boroughs, entitled to return mem- 
bers to parliament before that period, to have been twelve or thirteen 
of the first, and " thirty at least" of the other two. It was not for* 
the advantage of his argument to have underrated the number — and 
lie was too able a lawyer to afford any advantage against himself. 
It is therefore not to be supposed that the number exceeded his state- 
ment. These forty-three counties, towns, and boroughs, returned, 
therefore, only eighty-six members to parliament ; whereas the whole 
number elected was tivo hundred andforty-tivo. It therefore, I trust, 
appears conclusively that there were seventy-six new boroughs created 
at that period. 

It may, perhaps, be objected, that in King James's speech it is 
stated, that the deputies complained of on\y fourteen false returns, that 
is, probably retiyns from fourteen boroughs. These must have been 
objected to, on account of specific frauds, wholly independent of the 
new boroughs, of which the deputies complained loudly and justly; as 
these new boroughs, even supposing Sir John's statement correct, must 
have returned eighty members. 

Abandoned as was this system, it did not comprise one-half of the 
injustice or wickedness of the election. The same course was pursued 
as in the parliament of 1568. Many non-iesident Englishmen were 
returned ; some of the judges returned themselves ! and a number of 

— •«»e®ft«"— 

* " His majesty hath tyiost graciously andjustli/ erected divers new boroughs, in 
sundry parts of the kingdom." — Davies, 304. 

" Certainly the number of these new boroughs, compared with the counties that 
never had any burgesses before this time, doth carry a less proportion than the 
ancient boroughs, compared with the number of the ancient counties ; for in those 
twelve or thirteen old shires, there are tliirty cities and borouglis, at least, which 
send citizens and burgesses to the parliament. Whereas, for seventeen counties at 
large, being more than half the shires of this kingdom, which had not one borough 
in them before this new erection, his majesty hath now lately erected BUT FORTY 
NEW BOROUGHS .' or thereabouts, which, in the judgment of all indifferent men, 
must needs seem reasonable, just, and honourable ! ! !" — Idem, 306. 

•j- " A number of new boroughs, most of them inconsiderable, and many of them 
too poor to afford wages to their representatives, must be entirely influenced by 
government, and must return its creatures and immediate dependa7its. Such an 
accession of power could not fail to encourage the administration to act without 
reserve, and to pursue the dictates of its passions and resentments" — Lr-LANn, IT. 
519, 



CHAPTER XV. 157 

Wretched outlaws completed the list of the members of that house of 
commons which attainted Tyrone and Tyrconnel ! ! ! ! 

To heighten the wickedness of the proceedings, in imitation of the 
example set under Queen Elizabeth, no writs were issued to sundry 
ancient boroughs, which, from their population and charters, were en- 
titled to representatives ! !* 

The lords and commons, seeing their rights thus daringly trampled 
under foot, the law of the land shamefully violated, and the legislation 
of the nation virtually thrown into the hands of a greedy and devouring 
horde of strangers, made a struggle as ardent, but as ineffectual, as had 
taken place in 1568. They were baffled by the address, overcome by 
the power, and compelled to yield to the wicked views, of a profligate 
government. They despatched commissioners to the court of King 
James, to petition him for redress : f but they were treated witli insult 
and outrage. Two of them were, under some frivolous pretence, thrown 
into prison in London, | for alleged insolence of conduct; the case was 
referred to the British privy council ; § and they were dismissed with 
an impertinent, frothy, bombastic speech from the king.|| 

* " It was asserted by them, in support of their opposition, that the sheriffs had 
sent 7ie -writs to several of the boroughs ; that from others, the returns -would not 
be received; that most of the patents and charters of the ne-w boroughs -were 
dated ajter the commissio7is for the ivrits -were issued .' .' .'" — Chawfohd, I. 346. 

f Extract from the petition of the Irish lords. 

"That it may be cause of great discontentment to your majesty's subjects in Ireland, 
that so great a number of those, v?ho have no estates to oblige them to the defence 
of that kingdom, should give voices in parliament there to make laws." — Pari. Hist. 
vol, VIII. 251. 

" The recusant lords and commons of the pale dispatched letters to the king and 
the English council, urging the grievance of the new boroughs, incorporated -with 
mich shamfful partiality, and represented by attornies^ clerks, and servants of the 
lord deputy, and the violence done to Everard, chosen speaker by a majority of 
undoubted representatives ; imploring to be heard by their agents, and renouncing 
the royal favour, should they fail in any point of proof." — Leland, II. 527. 

+ " It seemed no auspicious incident to the Irish agents, that Talbot and Luttrel, 
for some late or present insolence of conduct, -were committed prisoners, one to the 
tower, the other to the fleet." — Lelanh, II. 529. 

§ "In flagrant violation of the rights of the Irish parliament, he referred the final 
determination of it to the English privy council. Their decision was, that several 
of the returns were illegal." — CnAWFonn, I. 346. 

" The members returned from those borotighs -zvhich -were created after the 
WRITS HAD BEEK ALREADY ISSUED, wcrc, for the present, declared incapable of 
sitting." — Leland, II. 531. 

II Extract from the speech of James I. to the lords of council in presence of the 

Irish deputies. 
" Then came petitions to the deputy, of a body without a head, a headless body : 
you would be afraid to meet such a body in the streets : a body without a head to 
speak, nay, half a body : what a monster were this, a very bug-bear ! Methinks you, 
that would have a visible body head of the church over all the earth, and acknow- 
ledge a temporal head under Christ, ye may likewise acknowledge my viceroy or 
deputy of Ireland. 

" The lower house here in England doth stand upon its privileges as much as any 
council in Christendom : yet if such a difference had risen there, they would have 
gone on with my service notwithstanding, and not have broken up their assembly 
upon it. Yo2i complain of fourteen false returns, .dre there not many more 
complained of in this parliament, yet they do not forsake the house for it? Now 
for your complaints touching parliament matters, I find no more amiss in that parlia- 



158 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

On no occasion did James ever display more impertinence and folly 
than in this speech, although these qualities entered largely into all his 
royal compositions. He arrogantly asked the deputies " what is it to 
you whether I make many or Jev) boroughs?'''' " What if I had made 
forty noblemen and four hundred boroughs ? the more the merrier, 
the fewer the better cheer.'''' Admirable logic! Royal equity! Such 
was the manner in which the rights and liberties, and ultimately the 
property of the Irish, were sported with. 

Notwithstanding the enormity of the grievances of which they com- 
plained, a portion of which were admitted by James himself, and the 
justice and propriety of an appeal to the ciown for that redress which 
was unattainable at home, the chief of the petitioners, all of whom* 
were members of parliament, were thrown into prison in Dublin.* It 
is difficult to realize in the mind such horrible violations of honour, 
honesty and justice. 

Although aided by these sliameless and abandoned frauds, the ad- 
ministration had but a small majority. Their usurping minions and 
parasites were only a hundred and twenty-five, and the recusant party 
were a hundred and one : f there were six absent members, whose 
politics are not known. It is easy to conceive what a decided majority 
the recusants would have had, but for the profligate disregard of every 
semblance of honour and justice, which, during the election, had 

ment, than in the best parliiiment in the world ; escapes and faults of sheriffs there 
may be, yet not proved ; or if it had been proved, no cause to stay the parliament ; 
all might have been set right by an ordinary course or trial, to which I must refer 
them. But you complain of the nciv boroughs, therein I would fain feel your pulse, 
for yet I find not where the shoe wrings. For, first, you question the power of the 
king, whether he may lawfully make them 1 And then you question the wisdom 
of the king and his council ; in that you say, that there are too many made. It was 
jiever before heard that any good subjects did dispute the king's power irt this point. 
Wliat is it to you, ivhether I make many or fexv boroughs ! .' ! ! my council may 
consider the fitness of it, if I require it; but -what if I had made forty noblemen, 
and four hundred boroughs ! .' the more the merrier, tlie fewer the better cfieer ! ! 
But this complaint, as you made it, was preposterous ; for in contending for a com- 
mittee, before you agreed of a speaker, did put the plough before the horse, so as it 
■went unto-wardly like your Irish ploughs ; but because the eye of the master maketh 
the horse fat, T have used my own eyes in taking a view of those boroughs, and have 
seen a list of them all. God is my judge, I find the new boroughs except one or 
two, to be as good as the old, comparing Irish boroughs new with Irish boroughs 
old (for I will not speak of the boroughs of other countries ;) and yet, besides the 
necessity of making them, like to increase and grow better daily. 

" I seek not emendicata suff'ragia ; such borouglis as have been made since the 
summons, are -ztiped away at one word, for this time ; I have tried that, and done 
you fair play, but you that are of a contrary religion, must not look to be the only 
lawmakers ; you that are but half subjects, shotild have but half privilege ; you 
that hcwe a?4 eye to me one way, and to the pope another way, the pope is your 
failier in spiritualibus, and I in temporalibus only ; and so have your bodies torn 
one way, ami your souls drawn another ; you that send your children to the semina- 
ries of treason, strive henceforth to become full subjects, that you may have cor u7ium 
and viam unam, and then I shall respect you all alike ; but your Irish priests teach 
you such grounds of doctrine, as you cannot follow them with a safe conscience, 
but you must cast off your loyalty to your king." — Plowden, I. App. 58. 

* " The chief petitioners were confined in the castle of Dublin, and Sir Patrick 
Barnewall, their great agent, was, by the king's command, sent in custody into Eng- 
land." — Leland, II. 496. 

f According to Leland. 



CHAPTER XV. 159 

governed the proceedings of the enemies of Irish happiness and pros- 
perity. 

In consequence of those abuses, the motley majority forced Sir John 
Davies into the chair, as speaker, although Sir John Everard had a 
great majority of the legal votes. 

The journals of the house of commons bear witness to the destitu- 
tion of honour and justice of the majority of that body and of the Irish 
administration. The acknowledgment of the culprits, is there recorded 
in the most unequivocal language : 

"Nov. 19, 1613. It was resolved by the house of commons, That whereas some 
persons have been unduly elected, some beinff Juilg'es ! some for not being estated in 
their boroughs ! some for being outlawed, excomniunicated! ! and lastly, for being 
retui'iied for'places whose charters ivere not valid ! ! .' it was resolved not to question 
them for the present, in order to prevent stopping public business; but this resolution 
was not to be drawn into precedent! ! !" — Mountmorhf.s, f. 169. 

"On the 24th November, 1614, the order of the last session was renewed, ver- 
batim, relative to postponing inquiries into the returns of members, &c. who were 
disqualified, as judges, as being outlaxued, £Jc. or returned for places ivhich had no 
charters'" I ! ! — Idem, 173. 

What an extraordinary contrast between these confessions and the 
speech of James I. in which he appears to regard the complaints of 
the parliament as unimportant! And how superlatively wicked in 
this state of things was the treatment of the Irish petitioners and their 
agents ! 

The view given of these proceedings by Carte, requires to be no- 
ticed as an additional proof of the obliquity and injustice which pervade 
the histories of Irish affairs, written by Protestant authors. Notwith- 
standing the barefaced frauds which took place in the elections, re- 
corded, as we have seen, in the journals of the house of commons, yet 
this writer — in narrating the struggle made by the representatives, 
fairly and honestly chosen, to defeat the vile attempt to rob the nation 
of all the substantial advantages of the elective franchise, and to lay it 
prostrate at the mercy of a cabal of foreigners, forced into parliament 
in violation of the first principles of justice — loads llie recusants with 
the severest censure, as if they had been the criminals, and the "ow^- 
laws" and other intruders had been really eligible and been elected 
with all the forms of law and custom..* It is a melancholy truth, that 
whenever the interests or the character of the two parties come in 

* " The house consisted of two hundred and thirty-two members, six whereof did 
not appear. Those that were present disagreed in their votes; and after a hot 
debate, there appeared on a division to be one hundred and twenty-seven voices for 
sir John Davies, the attorney-general, besides his own; and for sir John Everard, 
(formerly one of the justices of the king's bench, an obstinate recusant,) who on 
resigning his judge's place, had, on May 14, 1607, a pension granted him of one 
hundred marks a year, there were ninety-eight with himself. The Roman Catholics 
had before their meeting made a wrong calculation of their numbers, and fancied 
they should have had a majority in the house ; and now finding themselves outnum- 
bered, were enraged at the disappointment, and being headed by sir James Gough, 
a hot turbulent man, sir William Bourke, sir Christopher Nugent, sir Christopher 
Plunket, W. Talbot and other lawyers, proceeded in a -way oftwmdt and violence ; 
contrary to all right and rules of Parliament, to place sir John Everard in the 
chair ! ! from whence he was at last removed, and sir John Davies, (than whom 
none was ever better qualified for the post,) placed therein." — Cahte, I. 19. 



160 VINDICIiE HiBERNlC^. 

collision, this writer, and most of his co-labourers, almost uniformly 
display an odious partiality and injustice. 

In the parliament held under Wentworth in 1634, the same vile 
practices were employed which had secured a majority for the admi- 
nistration in 1613. Most of the boroughs, in defiance of the law of 
the land, were represented by non-residents, chiefly officers of the 
government.* The Roman Catholics made an ardent struggle against 
ihis outrageous grievance. But the overwhelming power and the 
despotism of the deputy rendered their eflbrts fruitless. They were 
forced to submit. 

No man ever understood the Machiavelian system — divide et impera 
— ^better than Wentworth. He never lost sight of it for a moment 
The planters in Ulster having incurred some forfeitures by non-com- 
pliance with the conditions of plantation, he was urged to enforce the 
penalty — but postponed it, lest he might alienate them — for, says he, 
" the truth is, we must there bow and govern the native by the planter, 
and the planter by the native.''^ He regulated the returns for the 
boroughs, where the power of the crown was predominant, just as he 
judged proper — and managed to keep the Protestants and recusants 
nearly equally balanced,! in order to play them off" one against another, 
and thus carry every measure calculated to advance the interests of the 
administration at the expense of tlie nation. 

Themanagementof the election in Dublin affords a tolerable specimen 
of the system generally pursued in cities and towns throughout the 
kingdom. The protestant candidates were a Mr. Catelin, recorder of 

• " Thurstlay the first of their sitting, the recusant party began, something warmly, 
to move for the purging of t/ie house, as they termed it, wi'.h an aim, doubtless, to 
put out a if7-eat company of the protestants upon the point of non-residency ; at 
last this settled in a committee of privileges to determine those questions ; yet when 
it came to be named the house was divided, the protestants in a manner intire on 
one side, the papists on the other, and carried by the former, eight voices." — Straf- 
ford, I. 277. . I. 1 

f " I shall endeavour, the lower house may be so composed, as that neither the 
recusants, nor yet the piotestants, shall appear considerably more, one than the other, 
holding them as much as may be upon an equal balance, for they will prove thus 
easier to govern, than if either party were absolute. Then wou'd I, in private dis- 
course, shew the recusant, that the contribution ending in December next, if your 
majesty's army were not supply'd, some other way before, the twelve pence a Sunday 
must of necessity be exacted upon them ; and shew the protestant, that your majesty 
must not let go the twenty thousand pounds contribution, nor yet discontent the 
other in matters of religion, till the army were some way else certainly provided for." 
—Idem, 186. 

" To secure this balance the more effectually, he laboured to get as many captams 
and officers chosen burgesses, as possibly he could, who, having an immediate de- 
pendence upon the crown, might sxvay ttie business betivixt the tivo parties, -which 
■way they pleaded, and by tJiis means he got u majority returned of persons that 
■were ivell affected to tlie church and croivn, and ready to further /its designs for 
the service oj both .'" — Carte, I. 62. 

" The parties are in a manner equal, some few odds on the protestant party, and 
one watching the other, lest their fellows shou'd rob them, and apply the whole grace 
of his majesty's thanks to themselves from the other. An emulation so -well fo- 
mented underhand, that when the motion for the king's supply was made yesterday 
in the house of commons, being the fifth day of their session, they did with one voice 
assent to the giving of six subsidies to be paid in four years." — Strafford, I. 274. 

I Strafford, I. 199. 



CHAPTER XV. 161 

the city and an alderman Barry. The names of the competitors are 
not mentioned. Wentworth, under pretence that the sheriff, the 
returning officer, had conducted himself " mutinously.,''^ fined him two 
hundred pounds, and five hundred pounds for not subscribing his 
examinations garbled in such a mode as to be a confession of guilt! — 
declared him disqualified from ever afterwards serving in that office ! — ^ 
had one of his creatures chosen in his place — and then of course the 
votes were so managed, that Catelin and Barry were returned without 
any difficulty. Against such tyrannical proceedings the subject had 
no remedy.* The only alternatives were submission or ruin by the 
oppression of the council chamber. 

Wentworth was resolved ihat Catelin should be chosen speaker of 
the house of commons. Understanding that the members of that house 
contemplated choosing some other person, the insolent satrap was quite 
exasperated ; and despatched the chancellor to them, with a mandate 
menacing his displeasure, if they should choose any other than the 
person "recommended by his majesty's privy council," which, at all 
events, would be utterly in vain, as " the conclusions must be accord- 
ing to his majesty's good will and pleasure."! His arbitrary power, 
imperious temper, and unrelenting disposition, were too well known, 
and the awe felt for him was too great, to admit of hesitation. His 
sovereign dictum was therefore as completely the law in this instance, 
as the dictum of the Emperor of Morocco in his capital. 

In this parliament, after Wentworth had gained his end, by the grant 
of the subsidies for the crown, he contrived to prevent any other busi- 
ness being done.J 

* " A sheriff, that being set on by these fellows, carried himself mutinously in the 
election of burgesses for this town, we brought into the castle chamber, upon an ore 
tenus, where, upon what he had set under his hand, we fined him two hundred 
pounds, and five tinndred pounds more for Ins contempt in refusing to set his hand 
to another part of his examination, both at the council-board, and in open court, 
disabling him for ever bearing that office hereafter in this city. Which wrought so 
good an effect, as giving order presently for choosing of a new sheriff, and going on 
the next day with the election again, the voices were all orderly taken, and the con- 
formable proving the greater number, Catelin the king's Serjeant and recorder of this 
town, and alderman Barry, a protestant, were chosen, ttie former xvhereof I intend 
to make the spealcer, being a very able man for ihat purpose ! .' .' ! and one I 
assure inyself will in all tlungs apply himself to his majesty^ s service ! I — Stuaf- 
roRD, I. 270. 

■\ " And understanding that there was a muttering amongst them of rejecting the 
recorder of this town for their speaker and chusing some other of themselves, I di- 
rected the chancellor, to require them fortlnvith to assemble tliemselves in their 
house to choose tlieir speaker, who was to be presented before me the next morning 
by nine of the clock, wishing them to beware of falling into the same inconvenience 
the last parliament here did, in this the first act of a house of commons, telling them 
it ivas not -worth tlieir contention, considering the power of allowance was undeni- 
ably in the king, and that if he rejected, they were still to chuse another, and another, 
till his majesty approved thereof; and that it would be taken as an ill presage of 
some waywardness or frowardness of mind, reigning in them, if they should go about 
to deny such for their speaker as should be recommended by his majesty's "privy 
council, which England never did; or to struggle in. a business tvlierein the con- 
clusion must needs be according to /n's majesty'' s good will and plAisure, whether 
they would or no. So they departed ; and before dinner, without any noise or op- 
position at all, chose the recorder for their speaker." — Idem, 277. 

t '' The rest of this session we have entertained and spun them out in discourses, 
bnt kept them nevert/ieless from concluding any Hung, yet- have finished within 

21 



162 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

But independent of the frauds perpetrated in the elections, another 
grievance of a most serious nature existed in respect to parliament. 
The members, whose speeches or conduct in that body displeased the 
administration, were arbitrarily punished by imprisonment, so as to 
destroy the freedom of debate.* 

I shall close this disgusting detail with the case of Sir Piers Crosby, 
which proves that the despotism of the deputy was not confined to 
the parliameot, but extended equally to the privy council. Of this 
latter body Sir Piers was a member, and likewise of the house of 
commons. 

In the latter capacity he voted against a bill, to which he had assent- 
ed in the former. For this offence, as the deputy styled it, he was 
sequestered from the privy council board,t and refused permission to 
go to England, where he was desirous of laying his case before the 
king. Having, however, escaped clandestinely, he was arrested and 
imprisoned in London by order of Charles I4 

The reader will probably be amazed at the fact of the refusal of li- 
cense to repair to England. But such was the real state of the case. 
No man in public employment could leave the kingdom, even to repair 
to the court of the British monarch, without license obtained from his 
deputy, which was never granted to characters obnoxious to him, who 
might seek an opportunity to expose his misdeeds. 

The case of Sir Piers is strong and striking. His standing in so- 
ciety was high ; as he was a soldier of distinguished merit, and had 
acquired great reputation in an expedition to the coast of France, where 
he had been the principal means of preserving the English army in 
their retreat.|| His sole offence, as above stated, was voting against 
an act proposed by the privy council. If the merits of such a man 
could not secure him from the degradation inflicted merely for the in- 
dependent discharge of his duty as a member of the legislature, it is 
easy to conceive the slavish and abject state in which those members 
were generally held, who had no such claims to attention as belonged 
to the knight. His removal from the privy council board took place 

the first limited time. No other laws passed but the two acts of subsidies, and that 
other short law for confirming all such compositions as are or shall be made upon 
the commission of defective titles." — Idem, 278. 

* "The same day, [Nov. 4,1634,] the lord deputy Wentworth communicated an 
act of council for confining and imprisoning Sik John Dungan and 
Captain Charles Price, tor words spoken in Parliament !" — Mount- 
morres, ii. 10. 

-[- Sir Piers Crosby, " in the second session of the late parliament, ventured to 
oppose some 7neasui-es of administration. The deputy reprimanded and accused 
him of a violation of his oath, in voting against bills to which he had assented in 
council, and concurred in transmitting them. Crosby was sequestered from the 
council-board. He complained of the severity, by petition. He desired license to 
repair to England, as if resolved to appeal to the king. It was refused." — 
Leland, III. 39. 

\ " Besides these agents there is notice also taken that sir Piers Crosby is come 
over without license ; which being made known to his majesty, by his command I 
have sent a messenger to apprehend him, and bring him before the lords of the 
council, -who are required forthivith to commit him for his contempt." — yTRAFFOHD, 
I. 476. 

II Leland, III. 39. 



CHAPTER XV. 163 

by the express direction of the king, on the representation of Went- 
worth.* 

From parliaments constituted in the manner above detailed, few 
measures were to be hoped for, but what were fraught with destruction 
to the happiness of Ireland. Almost universally majorities were 
secured in both houses, whose interests were in direct hostility 
with the best interests of the nation. And, in consequence, a large 
portion of the legislation has been an almost invariable tissue of out- 
rage on every principle of sound political economy, honour, honesty, 
and good faith. 

In a venal and corrupt parliament, packed in the reign of Henry 
VII. Sir Edward Poynings, then deputy, had a law passed which 
nearly destroyed the legislative power in Ireland ; reduced her par- 
liament almost to a level with a bed of justice in France ; limited its 
operations to the mere enregisterment or rejection of edicts; and left 
it but a bare negative power of rejecting,! not of proposing any law.f 

By another law, passed during the administration of the same satrap, 
all the laws previously existing in England, were, at one stroke, made 
of force within the kingdom of Ireland. § 

And, subsequently to this period, Ireland, without a single represen- 
tative in the British parliament, was subjected to the operation of all the 
British statutes, in which she was " especially named or included un- 
der general words." — Jacobs, III. 534. 

If the experience of the world did not afford numberless instances 
to prove, that those nations, which are the most jealous assertors of 
their own liberties, are the most consummate tyrants over subordinate 
nations, it would be a matter of astonishment that England, which, at 
various periods of her history, had lavished so much blood and treasure, 
in defence of her own rights and freedom, should have so uniformly 
violated every principle, not merely of liberty, but of justice, in her 
treatment of, and displayed such wanton tyranny towards, Ireland. 
The case of these two nations affords a most felicitous illustration of 
the judicious and profound remark of Hume, that it may be regarded 
as " a fixed maxim," that " though free governments have been com- 
monly the most happy for those who partake of their freedom ; yet 
ARE THEY THE MOST RUINOUS AND OPPRESSIVE TO 
THEIR PROVINCES."— Hume's Essays, I. 47. 

— ••«»©»<«•— 

* " On the representations of Wentworth, his majesty directed him to be re- 
movedfrom the privy coiincil." — Leland, III. 39. 

j- "A set of statutes were enacted, in the 10th Henry VII. (Sir Edward Poynings 
being then lord deputy, from whence they were called Poynings' laws) which re- 
strained the power, as well of the deputy, as of the parliament : and in time there 
was nothing left to the parliament of Ireland, but a bare negative, or poiver of re- 
jecting, NOT OF PROPOSING ANY LAM^."— Jacobs, III. 534. 

+ "This day [August 2, 1634] was remarkable for a dispute between the lords 
and the lord deputy, about the framing of acts ; which right by Poynings' law, he 
contended, was in hiinself and the council only ; anA parliament had only po-wer to 
prefer a petition to thein for that purpose ; and lord Strafford entered a memorable 
protest, upon this occasion, in the journals." — Mountmorhes, I. 323. 

§ " It was enacted, by another of Poynings' laws, that all acts of parliament, be- 
fore that time made in England, should be of force within the kingdom of Ireland.'^ 
— Jacobs, III. 534. , 



1G4 VINDICIJE HIBERNIC^. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Definition of Plantations in Ireland. Nefarious scheme for subvert- 
ing the title of every estate in Connaught. Barefaced bribery of 
judges. Packing of juries. Laivless depredations. Enormous 
fines. Unjust imprisonment^ Obduracy. 

" Not ev'n the high anointing hand of hcav'n 
Can authorize oppression ; give a law 
For lawless pow'r ; wed faith to violation ; 
On reason build misrule ; or justly bind 
Allegiance to injustice." — Bkooke. 

The plantation, as it is called, or rather, the spoliation of Connaught, 
demands a special chapter, as forming a most important feature in the 
history of the period embraced in the present division of this work, 
and exhibiting a complicated scene of rapine, fraud, and oppression not 
often exceeded in the annals of human injustice. 

It is necessary to enter into some explanation of the term '■'■ plantU' 
tafion,''^ a favourite but deceptions expression in the reign of James I. 
and Charles I. Plantations were undertaken under the hypocritical 
cloak of a regard for the civilization of the Irish, the good of religion, 
and the glory of God — but the real motive was a devouring spirit of 
rapine and plunder. 

In the disordered state of Ireland, the records of deeds were fre- 
quently lost or destroyed — and the titles of estates that had remained 
in the same families for centuries, were by these and other means some- 
times involved in doubt, which invited the depredations of those 
harpies, the spies and informers, whose proceedings are developed in 
Chapter XVIII. and who were constantly employed in seeking out 
what they called defective titles, and setting up claims for the crown. 
If the party acquiesced in the claim without opposition, a certain por- 
tion of his land, perhaps a fourth or a fifth part, was taken for the benefit 
of the informer, and an annual rent imposed on the owner for the re- 
mainder. If he resisted the claim, relying on the justice of his title, 
the question was brought before a jury — when no council was allow- 
ed ! .' ! and no time given for preparation 1 J !* As the juries were 
liable to be cited into the castle chamber, under pretence of perjury, if 
their verdicts did not suit the purposes of the government, the decision 
was generally, indeed with scarcely a single exception, in favour of the 
crown. In this case, as a punishment for what was styled the contu- 
macy of the party, and as a terror to others, one-third or one-halft of the 
estate was sequestrated, and " a plantation'''' established there of Eng- 
lish or Scotchmen. 

* These shameful facts rest on the authority of the deputy Wentworth, who, as 
we shall sec, page 170, claims merit for innovating on the ancient practice ! 

f For a confirmation of the existence of this hic^pous practice I likewise refer to 
Strafford's Letters, quoted page 1 74. 



CHAPTER XVI. 165 

It has been seen, page 133, that James had proposed to make a 
*^ plantation''' in Connaught; but thathis project was defeated by Death, 
who snatched him away in the midst of his career, to render an account 
in another world, before the omniscient Judge of mankind, of his rapine 
and depredation in this. But, alas ! the respite thus afforded to the 
western province of Ireland was of short duration. During the suc- 
ceeding reign, the nefarious project was revived, by the arrogant, rapa- 
cious, and vindictive Wentworth, who meditated nothing less than the 
subversion of the title of every estate in the province.* 

He had so managed the elections of members of the parliament of 
1634, and was so fully determined on the plantation of Connaught, 
that he was quite confident of being able to procure the passage of an 
act for that purpose, should he be disappointed of the verdicts of juries 
in favour of the crown. f 

The landed proprietors of Connaught, the destined victims of this 
rapacious scheme, had been terrified into a surrender of their lands 
to Elizabeth, in order to take out letters patent for them ; but unfortu- 
nately the surrenders were not enrolled. To remedy this, anno 1617, 
they surrendered them again, and received patents under the great seal. 
These likewise were not enrolled, through the neglect of a clerk, or 

—•'►♦© @ ft< « '- 

* " Hi« project was nothing less than to subvert the title to every estate in every 
part of Connaught ! .' and to establish a new plantation through this whole province ; 
a project, which, when first proposed in the late reign, was received with horror and 
amazement, but which suited the undismayed and enterprisingt genius of Lord 
Wentworth. For this he had opposed the confirmation of the royal graces, trans- 
mitted to lord Faulkland, and taken to himself the odium of so flagrant a violation 
of the royal promise. The parliament was at an end ; and the deputy at leisure to 
execute a scheme, which, as it was offensive and alarming, required a cautious and 
deliberate procedure. Old records of state, and the memorials of ancient monaste- 
ries, were ransacked, to ascertain the king's original title to Connaught. It was 
soon discovered, that in the grant of Henry tlie Third to Richard De Burgo,_;fz)e 
canireds -were reserved to the croiini, adjacent to the castle of Athlone ; that THIS 
GRANT INCLUDED THE WHOLE REMAINDER OF THE PROVINCE ! 
which was now alleged to have been forfeited by Aedn O'Connor, the Irish provin- 
cial chieftain ; that the lands and lordship of De Burgo descended lineally to Ed- 
ward the Fourth ! and were confirmed to the crown by a statute of Henry the 
Seventh. The ingenuity of court lawyers was employed to invalidate all patents 
granted to the possessors of these lands, from the reign of queen Elizabeth." — Lk- 
I.AND, III. 35. 

■j- " This house is very well composed, so as the protestants are the major part, 
clearly and thoroughly wijth the king. * * * And considering, in truth, that the 
popish party only have appeared to be averse to all reformation or order in the gov- 
ernment, it -will be a good rod to hold over them, when they shall see it is in the 
king's power to pass upon them by a plurality of voices all the laws of England con- 
cerning religion, which, howbeit, I do not now dispute whether it be fit or not fit : yet 
to have the power with the king is not amiss ; and may be otherwise used with 
great advantage for his majesty's service. It may serve of great use to confirm and 
settle his majesty's title to the plantations of Connaglit and Ormond ! ! For, this 
you may be sure, all the protestants are for plantations ! all the other against them ; 
so as those being the greater number, you can -want no help they may give you 
therein. JVay, iti case there be no title to be made good to these countries for the 
crown ! ! ! yet should I not despair forth of reason of state, and for the strength 
and security of the kingdom, to have them passed to the king by immediate act of 
parliament .' ! .'" — SxRAFFoiin, I. 353. 

t What a prostitution of terms! " Enterprising" forsooth ! rapacious or piratical 
would be far more appropriate. 



166 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

more probably through the fraud of some of the officers of government, 
who were desirous of availing tliemselves of the opportunity of de- 
predating on the owners. For the enrolment a large sum had been 
paid. As a remedy for all these errors, an act of grace was made in 
1618, full in their favour.* And, finally, as I have stated in the last 
chapter, they had paid Charles 270,000/. sterling for this and other 
graces. 

That the titles of those proprietors were as unimpeachable as those 
of any proprietors in the world, will not be questioned by any man 
of candour; and nothing but an utter destitution of every principle of 
honour and honesty, could have led to an attempt to invalidate them. 
Yet it was under these circumstances, that Wentworth undertook hiS 
project of the plantation of Connaught. 

As soon as the parliament was adjourned, Wentworth made his ex- 
cursion into Connaught to carry this favourite scheme into execution. 
He had sought in vain for any plea on which to ground a claim for 
the crown. t But he was not to be deterred by such a difficulty— and 

* " The lords and gentlemen of the province of Connaught and the county of 
Clare, had made a composition with sir John Pcrrot, and had thereupon surrendered 
their estates into the hands of queen Elizabeth ; but had generally neglected to enrol 
their surrenders, and take out letters patents for them, as they were obliged to do by 
the instrument of the composition. 

" This defect -was supplied in the thirteenth year of king James, when a new 
commission was issued out to receive the surrenders of their several estates, and to 
pass unto them, and their heirs, letters patent for their respective lands to be holden 
of the cro-wn, as of the castle of Athlo7ie by knight's service: the surrenders were 
accordingly made, and patents passed to them under the broad seal ; but neither 
were these enrolled in Chancery. 

" This rendered all their titles defective ; and the lands remaining still vested in 
the crown, it was proposed to make such a plantation there as had been made in 
Ulster. The omission xvas not so much tlie wilful default of the subject as the ne- 
glect of a clerk intrusted by them ; for they had paid near 3000/. to the officers at 
Dublin for enrohi^nts of these surrenders and patejits, -which -were never made ! ! 
There was an act of state made in lord Grandison's time, and dated 14th May, 1618, 
full in their favour, and confrming their possessions ; and they had paid great 
sums of tnoney for it into the exchequer ; they were quietly settled on their lands, 
and paid the king his composition better than any part of the kingdom ! .' It was 
hard in these circumstances to turn them out of their estates upon a mere nicety of 
la-w ! which ought to be tenderly made use of in derogation of the honour and faith 
of the king's broad seal. It was a troublesome aflair to engage in a plantation, the 
work of many years, and ever attended with great difficulties, in reconciling the jar- 
ring interests of all parties, so as to give satisfaction to the particular persons who 
were to be provided for, and adjust their several allotments in such a manner, as to 
promote the general good. It was dangerous also to make the experiment in a 
whole province at once, in a province so strongly situated as Connaught was, inha- 
bited by an active people, and abounding in idle swordsmen, more numerous, as well 
as more dangerous, than any in Ireland ; and where, if the plantation was carried on 
with all the mildness and grace that was possible, it must of necessity tuni out 
many thousands of poor people to beg tlieir bread ! ! and particularly seven thou- 
sand idle fellows, (as booked down by officers, and given in a list to the lord deputy,) 
that were fit for nothing but arms^ and who, living at present upon their friends and 
relations, must then be forced to seek and push their fortunes." 

■\ " How to make his majesty's title to these plantations of Connaght and Ormond 
(which, considering they have been already attempted and foil'd, is, of all the rest, 
the greatest difficulty) I have not hitherto received the least instructioii from your 
lordship or any other mi7iisler of tliat side." — Strafforii, I. 339. 

" Howbeit these plantations of Connaught and Ormond may seem to be far off. 



CHAPTER XVI. 167 

the plan generally pursued was well calculated to facilitate his schemes. 
The judges were bribed, and the juries packed. 

The nefarious system of bribing the judges stands recorded by 
Wentworth himself! ! ! To interest the court, and insure its assistance 
in the depredation on the unfortunate Irish, he advised the monarch to 
bestow on the lord chief justice and the chief baron four shillings in 
the pound out of the first years rent raised out of the depredated 
estates ! ! ! Charles, worthy of such a profligate representative, be- 
stowed, and the judges, worthy of such a monarch and such a deputy, 
received these wages of their prostitution ! 

Well might Shakspeare exclaim — 

" Thieves, for their robbery, have authority, 
When judges rob and steal." 

The bribe produced the desired efiect — for the judges laboured the 
causes with as much zeal, as if they were the plaintiffs themselves.* 

The annals of governmental fraud and villany aftbrd very i'ew more 
flagrant cases. Who can read the detail without horror? A king 
conspires with his vicegerent, to despoil and plunder his defenceless 
subjects, whose protection is one of his most sacred duties. To insure 
success in this flagitious undertaking, they destroy the purity and in- 
dependence of the court by direct bribery of the judges ! And the 
amount of the bribe depends on the extent of the depredation. They 
agree to share among them the '■'■Jirst fruits^'' of the spoil, which are 
divided into five parts, of which four fall to the king and deputy, the 
master plunderers, and the fifth to their agents and accomplices, the 
judges ! Yet, this monarch is by bigoted royalists reverenced as a 
Marcus Aurelius, the exemplar of every royal virtue ! 

It cannot be amiss to translate into plain English a sentence in the 
annexed note, and establish its true purport, as shedding further light 
on this most iniquitous transaction. " Every four shillings once paid, 
shall better your revenue for ever after at least five pounds." There 
is but one meaning to be attached to these words ; and that is, that for 
every acre which would fall to the crown, without the bribe, twenty- 
five would be spoliated in consequence of that powerful.agent ! Great 
God ! what a view this presents ! what abhorrence it must excite in 
every upright mind ! 

But the iniquitous deputy was not satisfied with corrupting the 
judges. He directed an equal degree of attention to the jurors, of 
whom he sought out two kinds, one poor and needy, who might 
easily be bribed — the other very wealthy, whom he might plunder by 



when as yet I have not been enabled btj the discovery of any tiile to either of them 
from any minister on that side ! ! ! And this is the principal verb, without which, 
all other discourse will prove light and empty. Bid I trust singly (with your ma- 
jesty's countenance to support and fortify me,) to work through all these difficulties .'" 
—Idem, 3-12. 

* " Your majesty was graciously pleased upon my humble advice, to bestow four 
shillings in the pound upon your lord chief justice and lord chief baron in this king- 
dom, forth of the first yearly rent raised upon the commission of defective titles ! ! ! 
which, upon observation, I find to be the best given that ever was : For noiu they 
do intend it with a care and diligence such as it were their own private .' ! ! ! 
And most certain, the gaining to themselves every four shillings once paid, shall 
better your revenue for ever after at least Jive pounds !!! !" — Sthaffohd, II. 41. 



168 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^. 

heavy tines, if they did not comply with his wishes.* In the latter 
case he would have, to use his own words, " persons of such means as 
might answer to the king in a round fine in the castle-chamber!" — 
Strafford, I. 442. 

"I will redeem the time as much as can be, treat with such as may ^ve further- 
ance in finding of the title, -which, as I said, is the principat, ENQUIRE OUT 
FIT MEN TO SERVE UPON JURIES."— /Jem, 339. 

The success attending the bribery of the judges in the case of the 
inquest into defective titles, induced Wentworth to urge his royal 
master to bribe in the same mode the chief baron and the barons of 
the exchequer, in cases of compositions with the recusants in th« 
south.t 

Wentworth began his career with the county of Roscomraon,^ where 
he made a frothy address to the grand jury, in Avhich he canted on 
the honour and equity of his royal master, and the benevolence of his 
views towards his good subjects of Connaught.§ But the jet of it was 

* " Before my coming from Dublin I had given order, that the gentlemen of the 
best estates and understandings should be returned, which was done accordingly, as 
you will find by their names. My reason was, that this being a leading case for the 
whole province, it would set a great value in their estimation upon the goodness of 
the king's title, being found by persons of their qualities, and as much concerned in 
their own particulars as any other I Kgaxn, Jinding the evidence so strong, as un- 
less they -ivent against it, they must pass for the king, I resolved to have persons 
of sncli means as might answer the kitig a round fne in the Castle-chamber in 
case they shoiild prevaricate ! ! ! who, in all seeming even out of that reason would 
be more fearful to tread shamefully and impudently aside from the truth, than such 
as had less, or nothing to lose !" — JStraffoui), I. 442. 

■\ " This I only mention in regard, if some such like reward were placed iipon 
your chief baron and barons of the excheqiier there ! ! ! forth of compositions made 
by them for your majesty with the recusants in the south, and your majesty pleased, 
upon the declaring your bounty, to call them to you, and withal recommend the 
care of the business to them, I am verily persuaded it would very much raise unto 
your profit those compositions!" — Idem, II. 41. 

\ " Wentworth, at the head of the commissioneis of plantation, proceeded to the 
western province. The inhabitants of the county of Leitrim had already acknow- 
ledged the king's 'title to their lands, and submitted to a plantation. It was now 
deemed expedient to begin with those of Roscommon. The commission was opened 
in this county ; the evidences of the king's title produced, examined, and submitted 
to a jury, formed of the principal inhabitants, purposely, (as the lord deputy ex- 
pressed it,) that ' they might answer the king a round fine in th^ castle-chamber, in 
case they should prevaricate.' They were told by Wentworth, that his majesty's 
intention, in establishing his undoubted title was to make them a rich and civil 
people I that he purposed not to deprive them of their just possessions, but to invest 
them with a considerable part of his own ; that he needed not their interposition, to 
vindicate his right, which might be established by the usual course of law, upon an 
information of intrusion ; but that he wished his people to share with him in the 
honour and profit of the glorious and excellent work he was now to execute ! f ! to 
his majesty it was indiifercnt, whether their verdict should acknowledge or deny his 
title." — Lelaxd, III. 36. 

§ " I told the jury, the first movers of his majesty to look into this his undoubted 
title were the princely desires he hath to effect them a civil and rich people ! ! .' 
which cannot by any so sure and ready means be attai7ied as by a plantation, 
which therefore in his great wisdom he had resolved; yet that it should be so done 
as not to take any thing from them which was justly theirs, but in truth to bestow 
amu7igst them a good part of that which was Ids own .' that I was commanded to 
ascertain them, that it was his majesty's gracious resolution to question no roan's 
patent that had been granted formerly upon good considerations, and was of itself 



CHAPTER XVI. 169 

• 

the comfortable information, that his majesty was indifferent " whether 
their verdict should acknowledge or deny his title ;" conveying there- 
by a clear idea that he would adopt some other mode of attaining his 
right; the '■'■palh to ivhich lay so open and plain before him.^'' He 
gave them to understand, that if ihey consulted their own true interest, 
they would find for the crown, as they would then have better terms 
than " if they were passionately resolved to go over all bounds to their 
own wills." 

In the plea put in by the counsel for the crown, it was pietended 
that the " records and evidences" proving the title, "were embezzled 
out of the treasury at Trim,"* which is in all probability a mere fabri- 
cation to afford a pretext for the seizure of the lands. It is in the same 
plea asserted, that an act was passed in the tenth year of Henry VII. 
anno 1494, to entitle that king and his heirs to enter on and seize all 
the manors, lordships, &c. in the province of Con naught. However 
strange it may appear, it is all but ceitain, that this was a mere fiction ; 
as there is now before me a copy of the Irish statutes, published by au- 
thority, anno 1678, in which this laW does not appear. And a public 
law of such importance would scarcely be omitted in an edition pub- 

— ...»e ©«<«.— 

valid in the law ; his great seal was his public faith, and should be kept sacred in all 
things; that the king came not to sue them to find for him, as needing any power 
of theirs to vindicate his own right; for without them where his right is so plain, he 
could not in justice have been denied possession upon an information of intrusion ; 
the court in an ordinary way of exchequer proceeding would, must have granted it 
upon the first motion of his attorney-general."— Strafford, I. 443. 

" With this I left them marvellous much satisfied ; for a few good words please 
them more than you can imagine." — Idem, 442. 

" His majesty, being desirous in these public services to take his people along 
with him, was graciously pleased, thei/ should have as tvell a part with him in the 
honour as in the profit of so glorious and excellent a tvork for the commo7itveatth ; 
that therefore his majesty was indiflerent, whether they found for him or no, and 
had directed me to press nothing upon them in that kind, where the path to his right 
lay elsewhere so open and fair before hiin. But yet of myself, and as one that must 
ever wish prosperity to their nation, I desired them first to descend into their own 
consciences, take them to counsel, and there they should find the evidence for the 
crown clear and conclusive ; next, to bexoare hoto they appeared resolved or obsti- 
nate against so manifest a truth, or /low they let slip forth of their Iiands the 
means to -weave themselves into the royal tlioitghts and care of his majesty thorough 
a chearful and ready acknowledgment of his right, and a due and full submission 
thereunto; so then, if they would be inclined to truth and do best for themselves, 
they -were uiidonbtedly to find tlie title for ttie Icing. If they were passionately re- 
solved to go over all bounds to their own will, and without respect at all to their own 
good, to do that which were simply best for his majesty, then / should advise them, 
roughly and pertinaciously to deny to find any title at all. And there I left them 
to chant together, (as they call it,) over their evidence !" — Idem, 443. 

• " The records and evidences which should intitle the crown to these lands 
amongst others -were imbezzled out of the treasury of Trim to the disherison of the 
crow?!. For remedy whereof, by a statute made in Ireland, 10 Henry VII. it was 
declared, that ' the lordship of Connaght was annexed to the crown,' and it was 
further enacted ' that it should be lawful for the king and his heirs to enter and 
seize in all such manors, honours, lordships, castles and tenements, rents, services, 
moors, meadows, pastures, waters and mills, with their appurtenances, &c. apper- 
taining to the said lordship of Connaght (amongst other things) and to seize all and 
every ward or wards, escheat, waifs, felons' goods, and all other things appertaining 
or belonging to the said lordship, whereof any manner leful title or discharge of the 
king's interest cannot be shewed.' " — Idem, 455. 

22 



170 TINDICIiE HIBERNICjE. 

lished under the auspices of government. But admitting this state- 
ment to be all sacredly true, it does not materially affect the question. 
Suppose for a moment that a prostitute parliament had in 1494 passed 
an act, vesting in the crown the whole province, could this, after a 
lapse of 140 years, give a title in the eye of justice ? Could any thing' 
but the most lawless rapacity have preferred and pursued a claim on 
such miserable ground ? No certainly. If an act of parliament could 
in this manner transfer to the crown an entire province, on the same 
ground a claim might have been readily made out to the fee-simple of 
the whole island on the ground of the act passed during the reign of 
Elizabeth, as quoted page 98. 

The villany of this scheme of depredation far exceeded that practised 
in former times. Some attention had been till now paid to letters patent, 
duly authenticated from the crown. These were generally regarded 
as affording proofs of good titles ; and rescued the possessors from the 
ruin inflicted on their neighbours. But the chief part of the lands in 
Connaught, proposed to be spoliated by Wentworth, being fenced round 
with patents, he found that his project Avould be defeated, and he be 
deprived of his prey, if he admitted the validity of letters patent. He 
therefore determined to reject them ; and so utterly regardless was he 
of even the slightest appearance of honour or honesty, that he assigns, 
as a justification of the extensiveness of his spoliation, the very reason 
that should have been a shield to rescue the sufferers fiom his merciless 
gripe.* 

One part of Wentworth's address has escaped observation heretofore, 
which nevertheless deserves the most pointed attention. It would afford 
room for a commentary of a volume on the hideous oppression and 
rapacity of the Irish government.t 

A government, whose paramount duty is to protect the persons and 
property of its subjects, pursues for centuries a piratical system of 
legal warfare on their property ; advances claims to estates, one, two, 
three, or four hundred years old ; suspends fines and imprisonment 
over the heads of the jurors; bribes the judges ; and, let it be deeply 
engraven on the mind of every man of candour, that for above four 
hundred years, the men whose estates it sought to spoliate, were 
never, till the time of Wentworth, allowed the favour of " being 

* " We considered that in former plantations here all men claiming by letters 
patent had the full benefit of them either in enjoying the lemds granted them, or 
other land equivalent thereunto, whether their letters patent were vaUd or invalid. 
And indeed in those plantations that favour might better be yielded, where the lands 
claimed by letters patod were not any great or co7isiderable proporttojis of lands, 
than here, where almost all the lands falling tinder pla7itation are granted or 
mentioned, to be granted by letters patent .' I ! ! so diligent have these people been 
to gain the countenance of letters patent, hoping thereby to anticipate the rights of 
the crown. So as, if we should hold up to that course of allowing all letters patent, 
and not lay hold on the defects and infirmities of some .' it would be an occasion to 
prevent that great benefit which this service, (as we intend to order it,) will un- 
doubtedly effect to the king and kingdom." — Strafford, If. 139. 

•j- " To manifest his majesty's justice and honour, I thought fit to let them know," 
says the satrap, ' that it was his majesty's gracious pleasure, that aiiy man's counsel 
should be fully and ■willingly heard, iii defence of their respective rights;' being 

A FAVOUU NEVER BEFORE AFFORDED TO ANY UPOH TAKISG THESE KIND OF 

jKacisiTioKs," — Stkafpord, I. 142, 



CHAPTER IVr. 171 

heard, by counsel, in defence of their respective rights T''* Tripoli, 
Algiers, and Morocco might be safely defied to produce a parallel. 

Another most odious and inveterate feature of the system was de- 
veloped on this occasion. It appears that hitherto no notice whatever 
had ever been given the parties to make any preparation to rebut the 
claims of the crown. They were always taken by surprise. Went- 
worth, as already stated, assumes great merit for having given the 
parties twenty days'' notice to make preparation to rebut claims run- 
ning above four hwidred years back.'f 

The reader cannot be surprised that the jurors of Roscommon, under 
these circumstances, found for the crown. Nothing less could have 
been expected. 

The example of Roscommon had a decided influence on the coun- 
ties of Mayo and Sligo,| where the king's title was found without 
difficulty. 

The county of Galway remained. The Earl of Clanrickard was 
the chief landed proprietor there. The gentry were powerful and re- 
solute ; aad, supported by the countenance of the earl, and relying on 
the justice of their cause, the jury refused to give a verdict for the crown. 
Wentworth fined the sheriff" one thousand pounds, and summoned the 
jurors to the council chamber, where they were sentenced to the 
enormous fine of four thousand pounds each, and to be imprisoned till 
the fine was paid.§ 

• " They exhibited a petition signed by a great many of them, whereby they de- 
sired the finding might be deferred till a longer lime, pretending they were unpro- 
vided. To this I replied, if it was so, it was their own fault, I having caused a 
scire facias to issue forth of the chancery twenty days before!! .' which might 
publish the coming of the commissioners about this great work, in such a manner 
as every man might have timely notice, and be left without colour of excuse, or of 
being surprised : which ivas more also than had formerly been accustomed in case* 
of this nature ! so as I desired their excuse in that I durst not forbear after so just 
and fair a proceeding on the king's part, to put off tlie finding of his majesty^i 
title." — Strafford, I. 442. 

-j- " The presence and interposition of a lord deputy, whose character and temper 
were fitted to operate on men's passions, had probably their full effect on this occa- 
sion. The king's title was found, without scruple or hesitation ; and the verdict at- 
tended with a petition for an equitable treatment of present proprietors, and a duo 
provision for the church." — Lelajjd, III. 37. 

\ " The next week we shall go on with the county of Sligo, and so in order with 
the rest, and shall, I trust, speed no worse with them than we have done here ; 
howbeit there is much muttering, we shall meet with opposition in the county of 
Galway, and as if the earl of Clanricard, or at least his servants, were very averse 
from the plantation. Indeed, whether it be so or no, I know not ; but I could wish 
that county would stand out; for, I am well assured, it shall turn to his majsty's ad- 
vantage if they do. For certain it is a country which lies out at a corner by itself, 
and all the inhabitants wholly natives and papists, hardly an Englishman amongst 
them, whom they kept out with all the industry in the world ; and therefore it would 
be of great security they were tliorottghly lined with English indeed." — Sthaf- 
FORn, J. 444. 

§ " We then bethought ns of a course to vindicate his majesty's honour and 
justice, not only against the persons of the jurors, but also against the sheriff for re- 
turning so insufficient, indeed, as we conceived, a packed jury, to pass upon a busi- 
ness of so great weight and consequence; and tlierefore we fined tlie sheriff in a 
thousand pounds to ttis majesty ! ! and bound over the jury to appear in the castle- 
chamber, -wtiere we conceive, it is fit that their pertinacious carriage be followed 
with all just severity. And because wa saw apparently, that there had been 



172 VINDICIJ3 HIBERNIC^. 

Of all the various instances of the obliquity of Carte's history, there 
is none more extraordinary than the view he gives of this hideous 
affair. He not only absolutely defends the proceedings of Stratlord ; 
but unqualifiedly censures the jury, who, "on the evidence produced, 
ought to have found," he says, "as their neighbours had found !! !" 
Among his accusations of the jury, the first is, their grounding their 
refusal of finding a title to the province, on " the pretence that the 
subjection of the country under Henry H. was a submission, not a 
conquest."* In what a state of delirium must the mind of the man be, 
who could be so far lost to a sense of reason and justice, as to style this 
sound and irrefragable plea, " a pretence,'''' or to countenance any claims 
resting on such untenable ground ! That in a country, which for cen-* 

plotting and combining to stand against his majesty's title, insomuch as the viscount 
Clanmorris, nephew to our very good lord, the earl of St. Albans and Clanrickard, 
hath been heard to say in a vaunting manner, before the jury gave up their verdict, 
that they would have given a great sum of money, that we had begun here, that so 
by not finding the king's title here, the other counties might take example to do the 
like, we judged it needful instantly upon the place to publish a proclamation (a copy 
whereof we herewith send you) to the intent, if it might be, to break the combina- 
tion ; however to make all the natives of this county inexcusable, if they did not ac- 
cept the grace thereby offered, and to open the passage of his majesty's justice more 
plain and honourable, by this means taking from them all the pretence they might 
make, that the fault was only the juiy's. and so the punishment properly applicable 
to them, and not to the rest of the county, who might allege themselves to be alto- 
gether innocent therein." — Strafford, I. 451. 

* "The jury of the county of Galway was summoned to meet at Portumna, on 
Aug. 13, 1635, and consisted of the principal gentlemen of tlie county. The king's 
title to all the lands in it, except such as belonged to the church, or had been granted 
out by the patents of his predecessors, WAS PROVED BY THE CONQUEST 
OF KING HENRY II.! ! ! and the grant he made of it to Roderic, lord of Con- 
naught; by the grant of Henry III. to Richard de Burgo, of twenty-five cantreds, 
out of thirty, whereof the whole consists, upon a rent of three hundred marks for the 
first five years, and of five hundred for ever afterwards ; and by the payment of this 
rent into the exchequer, and the allowances thereof in the sherift''s accompt from 
time to time ; by the dsaceut af king- Edward IV. from Lionel, duke of Clarence, 
and the heiress of JJe Burgo ! ! ! and by the vesting of their lands in the crown, by 
the statute of 10 Henry VII. c. 15. ! 

"The jury, however, upojt pretencf, that the AcatiisiTioK of Henry II. 
WAS NOT A coxauEST, but a submission of the inhabitants! that the grant to Ro- 
derick was baroly a composition, whereby the king had only the dominion, but not 
the property of the lands, though the rent paid sulficicntly proved the latter ; that, 
in tracing the descent to Edward IV. proof had not been made of Lionel, duke of 
Clarence's possession ; and that the statute of Henry VII. related to tenures rather 
than to lands, though no man could be proved to have any land there in property 
at that time ! thought fit to find against the king's title, (though no grant was pro- 
duced from the crown to any ancestor of the possessors, and where nobody else 
HAS A ribht, the king's TITLE MUST BE GOOD;) and wlien called upon to 
declare in whom the freehold was vested, (if not in the crown,) they refused to do 
so. The lord deputy highly resented this proceeding ; and, conceiving it would be of 
ill example to the rest of the kingdom, and would retard, if not defeat, the execution 
of his project, caused the jurors to be prosecuted, for a combination with the sheriff 
who cmpannelled them, to defeat the king of his right! They were tried on the 
27th of May, 1636; FINED FOUR THOUSAND POUNDS A MAN; SEN- 
TENCED TO IMPRISONMENT TILL IT WAS PAID, AND TO AN 
ACKOWLEDGMENT, UPON THEIR KNEES, IN COURT AND AT 
THE ASSIZES, OF THEIR OFFENCE ! in refusing to find what they ought 
to have found, upon the evidence produced, and which their neighbours had actu- 
ally found upon the same." — Cahts, I. %%. 



CHAPTER XVI. i73 

luries had been despoiled on pretexts as iniquitous, such claims should 
be advanced by a depredator of the character of VVentwoith, is not 
wonderful ; but that an historian, writing, a century afterwards, with all 
the facts before him, on which to form a correct estimate, should for a 
moment admit that the titles to estates, held in the same families for 
ages, should be allected by the question of the conquest or submission 
of the country in 1172, is inexpressibly astonishing. The invasion of 
Henry took place in that year; and the spoliation of Connaught was 
projected in 1636, that is, four hundred and sixty-four years afterwards. 
Of what consequence could it have been as to the titles of estates, what 
was the character of the proceedings of Henry, — whether he received 
a submission or made a conquest? Suppose a submission: does it 
thence follow that Charles I. had a right to an acre, or even a perch, 
of an estate that had descended from heir to heir, for the intermediate 
four centuries and a half? Suppose it invasion : does that enhance 
the strength of the claim ? Had every man, woman, and child, in the 
whole nation been subdued by, and sworn allegiance to, Henry H. or, 
to give the argument its utmost force, Henry VH., could that warrant 
a jury in finding a title in the crown to the whole of the soil ; or justify 
the imposition of a fine of four thousand pounds sterling on each of the 
jur)'^, for not finding such title! ! ! Could any thing but the most ram- 
pant spirit of rapine ever lay a claim on such wretched ground, or any 
thing but insanity or obliquity of mind ever undertake the palliation of 
the vile deed ? 

Leland is not so culpable as Carte. Nevertheless he cannot he de- 
fended; for he narrates, without the slightest censure, this Connaught 
spoliation, unsupported by letter-dropping, conspiracy, rebellion, or 
any accusation of '•'■not building houses, or planting orchards,^'' 

Wentworth, bold, daring and desperate, was rejoiced at the rejection 
of the claim of the crown by the Galway jury. His gi-and object being 
plunder, and fearing no resistance, or determined to diagoon the estated 
gentlemen into submission, if they dared resist, he contemplated seiz- 
ing on the whole of the estates of the jurors, and one half the rest of 
the entire province, being twice as much of the latter as he would have 
ventured to sequester, had a verdict been found for the crown.* The 
English ministry were afraid of a rebellion, and reluctant to counte- 

* " There is now a fair opportunity put into his majesty's hands to lay a sure 
foundation for reducing and securing this county of Galway (of all the four by 
much the greatest) by fully lining- and planting it ivith English, -which could not 
have beeif so thoroughly done, as for the publick safety is necessary, if the pre- 
tended owners of lands in this coilrity have not a greater proportion taken from 
tfiem than is appointed by the articles of plantation to be applied to his majesty^ s 
benefit in the other three counties ! And seeing by their own act they co-operate in 
it, whereby his majesty is justly provoked so to do, and thereby to put a difference 
between them who force him to undertake a suit at law for his own, and his other 
subjects who readily acknowledge his right, and who will think it hard that others, 
less conformable than they, should be put into an equal condition with them : we 
therefore have resolved that I, the deputy, shall forthwith give order to the king's 
learned counsel to put the king's title into a legal proceeding (if his majesty in his 
wisdom shall not- find reason to direct the contrary,) which we conceive may be in 
a fair and orderly way by an exchequer proceeding to seize for his majesty the laiid 
of the jurors, and of all that shall not lay hold on his majesty's grace off ered them 
by the proclamation .' .' .'" — Stkaffohd, I. 453. 



174 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC.E. 

nance such barefaced depredation. He remonstrated with them, and 
went so far as to assign that danger as a reason to warrant the career 
he ran. " If they were so unsound and rotten at the heart" as to run 
into rebellion on account of being robbed of half their estates, " wis- 
dom required so to weaken them" as to put it out of their power to 
rebel! Wonderful logic !* 

It will excite the horror of the reader to learn that Wentworth ac- 
tually levied above 40,000/. sterling on the sheriffs and jurors — equal 
to nearly a million of dollars at the present valuation of money ! 

Lord Clanrickard, having powerful friends at court, who successfully 
urged the flagrant injustice of the proceedings against him, he procured 
his pardon. This rendered Wentworth almost frantic, to find the prey 
snatched from his jaws, at the moment when he had regarded himself 
as secure of it beyond all possibility of escape. He uttered his com- 
plaints to the secretary of state in strong language expressive of the 
chagrin he experienced.! 

It sheds strong light on the extent of the plunder of this modern 
Verres, when we consider the case of Earl Clanrickard, from whom, 
according to Strafi*ord's own account, no less a sum than 30,000/. 
would have been extorted, had he not been pardoned. When such an 
enormous sum was to have been the fine of one individual, we may 
conceive how immense an amount was plundered from the inhabitants 
of an entire province ! Are we to wonder, then, that Wentworth, who 
entered on his office with a moderate fortune, was enabled, in a very 
few years, during which he lived in an extravagant style, to give to a 
single son property worth, according to his own statement, 60,000/. 

The nobility and gentry of Galvvay having sent agents to London 
to plead their cause, Wentworth urged Charles to send them to Ireland 
as prisoners, that he might proceed against them in the castle-chamber, 
and have them fined for daring to appeal to their king for justice and 
protection against the insatiable rapacity of his deputy. J He moreover 

• " All the answer I can give is, that if tahing of an half 7nove Ihat country to 
enter into open rebellion, the taking of a third or a fourth methinks should hardly 
tecure the crown of their allegiance! Then be it granted that they are thus unsound 
and rotten at the heart, wisdom adviseth so to weaken them, and line them thoroughly 
with English and protestants as that they shall not, (by the help of God,) be able 
to disquiet any thing, if they would." — Strafford, II. 34. 

j- " In all former plantations the opposers ever lost one third and sometimes half 
of their estates!!! as now his majesty hath with great reason ordered for the tenants 
of the county of Galivay ; yet shall this earl not only lose nothing for his opposition, 
but be now put into far better condition than those that have done his majesty most 
effectual service, which will be no small discouragement upon them, and dull their 
cheerfulness in the future: And on the other side a great encouragement to others 
to oppose, considering that this earl, notwithstanding all his own and his father's 
opposition, hath now obtained a suit, (worth to himself,) to estimate it favourabl}'', 
30,000/. but of prejudice to his majesty in this and the subsequent plantations now 
on foot, a far greater value." — Idem, 368. 

I " I find that nothing would give these commissioners so much satisfaction, and 
even in my own judgment so much enable us, and dispose all to a speedy and happy 
conclusion, as to remit these agents of Galivay iri the condition of prisoners, and 
tlieir propositions intirely to our consideration, and legal proceeding on this side! 
which I am inclined unto the rather, for that I find in their propositions oflered to you 
nothing of new, but such lean objections as have been buffeted at every enquiry for 
the title, and nothing left to hang upon them but skin and bone as they say ; ai also 



CHAPTER XVI. 175 

wreaked his vengeance on the lawyers who had discharged their duty 
in defending the causes of their clients. He tendered them the oath 
of supremacy, which was a recantation of their religion, and silenced 
such of them as refused to take it.* 

Such was the overwhelming power of Strafford — so deaf was the 
king to all the supplications for justice of the oppressed landholders of 
Connaught — so prostrate had they become, and so terrified lest, in 
struggling for justice and the preservation of their estates, they might 
be despoiled of the whole, that in 1636, they absolutely surrendered 
them into the hands of the king, thus throwing themselves on his 
mercy. They employed the Lord Clanrickard to mediate with Straf- 
ford. His lordship wrote an earnest and impressive letter t to the 
deputy, urging him to accept their submission. But obdurate and 

because in truth I conceive this course of public agency is most indecent and un- 
comely, and which hath been in all times the occasion of mighty disservices to the 
crown there, and of excessive prejudice and disquiet to the subject and state here ; 
and therefore to be taken up so by the roots, as never to bring forth those bitter fruits 
hereafter ; which I am verily persuaded we shall effect, if it be committed to our 
care and examination, besides the bring-in^ m of round and considerable fines by 
censures in the castle-chamber, not alone upon the agentu, but upon their other 
confederates, lohich are neither feiv nor of low conditioji Iioill awarrant you." — 
Strafford, I. 493. 

* " For those counsellors at law, who so laboured against the king's title, we 
conceive it is fit, that such of them as we shall find reason so to proceed withal, be 
put to take the oath of supremacy, -which if they refuse, that then they be silenced, 
and not admitted to practise as noio they do ; it being unfit that they should take 
benefit by his majesty's graces, that take the boldness after such a manner to oppose 
his service." — Idem, 454. 

•j- " Since the receipt of your lordship's letter of the second of September, his 
majesty declaring his pleasure to me, that he was not willing to accept of that sur- 
render, whereof I sent your lordship a copy, I repaired home, and as I was preparing 
a despatch into Ireland to acquaint them therewith, and to return the authority sent 
unto me, I received a confirmation of the said letter of attorney, signed by a hundred 
and seventy-five persons of the best quality of the county, and had a sight of a 
petition from the jury directed to your lordship; and entering into the consideration 
of the weight and consequence of this affair acted by so many, I conceived I could 
no ways discharge my duty better to his majesty, nor more fully express my respects 
to your lordship, than to detain that intended despatch in my hands until I had given 
your lordship a full and clear account of their proceedings. 

"And I leave it to your lordship's better judgment to consider whether this free 
and voluntary surrender by the body of the whole county doth not as highly import 
the service, as to have it found by a jury, when perhaps many, as deeply interested 
as they, may rest unsatisfied, and of a different opinion. It is their desire and my 
intention, that my employment herein may be guided by your lordship's advice and 
direction. And as you have proceeded with great zeal and labour in the service of 
his majesty, so, under favour, I conceive there is now a good occasion offered your 
lordship, to perfect that work ; and withal to gain thanks from many persons in fear 
and trouble, by mediating to his majesty to accept of this their free and unanimous 
resignation of their estates without farther dispute ! and your lordship and the state 
to receive the jury's humble acknowledgment of your justice and their error of 
judgment, the rather in regard they have laboured to redeem their first offence, by 
persuading the rest of the county to this general surrender. And certainly so 
many persons of their quality ivill never acknoivledge a -wilful opposition or per- 
jury ! though there were apparent motives to ground a judgment thereupon." — 
Strafford, II. 35. 

CLANRICKARD. 
Sept. 37, 1636. 



176 VINDICLE HIBERNICE. 

deaf to all the calls of humanity as well as justice, he insisted that the 
jurors should acknowledge theT/ had given a false verdict ! J ! and thus 
record themselves guilty of perjury J ! I The bare narration of such 
complicated scenes of fraud, oppression, and cruelly, harrows up the 
soul, and excites detestation and abhorrence of the king, the deputy, 
and all the subordinate agents of tyranny and depredation. 

The fears of the English government of exciting a rebellion having 
subsided, they cheerfully entered into Stiaflbrd's views, and encouraged 
him to proceed with his depredation. Charles who, as already stated, 
had received from his subjects 270,000/. for the renunciation of his 
claims to those lands, and for other considerations, was dishonourable 
and perfidious enough to become particeps critninis with this wholesale 
plunderer, and share the spoils. A letter, from secretary Coke to 
Straflbrd, dated Sept. 30, 1635, expresses his approbation of the course 
he had pursued : — 

" That a greater proportion of land should be taken from the pretended oivners 
in the county of Gal-waij, than in the rest, is thought just and reasonable, for the 
reasons you allege. And your resolution to put the king's title to a legal trial, is 
very well approved, with siicli, seizures us i/oii intend both against the Jurors and 
against all otiiers that will not lay liold of tlie grace offered them by tlie proclama- 
tion." — 8traffohd, I. 465. 

The jurors, imprisoned in Aug. 1635, and still in continement, peti- 
tioned the king in July, 1636, for a release, but were rejected, and 
referred to Straflbrd.* 

The deputy began to be tearful of resistance, and demanded a con- 
siderable force of horse to protect the new settlers in their spoliation 
of the natives : — 

"It will be necessary that some considerable strength of horse may stand and 
lootc on as an, excellent assistant to countenance itie plantation, to incourage the 
Englisti, and for their better defence upon tlieir Jirst coming." — Idem, 4-54. 

It is scarcely credible, but it is nevertheless true, that after all these 
violations of right and justice, these barefaced depredations on pro- 
perty, Strafford had the effrontery to endeavour to cajole the Irish 
Roman Catholics into an opinion that they were indebted to the king 
for indulgence and great favours ! ! f Impudence could scarcely go 
farther. 

• " The jurymen fined in the castle-chamber have by the earl of St Albans 
petitioned his majesty, but are absolutely referred back to the justice of Ireland." — 
Stkaffoud, II. 14. 

-j- " When I understood by the relation of sir Tobie Matthews with how much 
and many untruths some of the Irishry endeavoured to shadow over to your sight 
tliose indulgent lights and graces iv/iich his majesty vouctisafed to shed forth to all 
his people.' .' I and tJi particular to ttiose of the Roman Cat/iolic religion here!'! ! ! 
I confess it was my gladness to hear it, seeing I might thence justly and naturally 
vindicate and represent the piety ! honour ! and integrity ! of my master's proceedings 
to your knowledge." — Idem, 112. 



CHAPTER XVII, 177 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Administration of Lord Strafford p^cncrally. Cruel treatment of the 
Scotch in Ireland. Enormous fines. Strafford'' s ccclesiaslical des- 
potism. Case of Lord Mountnorris. Obduracy of Lord Strafford. 
Case of Lord Loftus. 

" Proud, impatient 
Of aught superior, ev'n of heav'n that made him, 
Fond of false glory — of the savage power 
Of ruhng without reason — of confounding 
Just and unjust by an unbounded will. 
By whom religion, honour, all the bands 
That ought to hold the jarring world in peace. 
Were held as tricks of state." — Kowe. 

It would be a defect in this portion of the work, if I did not give a 
sketch of the administration of Lord Strafford on other points, besides 
his flagitious and piratical proceedings in Connaught, in order more 
fully to display the tyranny exercised in Ireland, from which even the 
highest of the nobility were not exempt. 

The family of Lord Strafford have done his lordship's memory a 
most irreparable injury, by the publication of his letters, which afford 
such a mass of evidence of his rapacity, rancour, utter disregard of the 
ties of honour and justice, inhumanity, hypocrisy, and Machiavelism, 
as has rarely been bequeathed to posterity. 

Few men have performed a distinguished part in society, whose his^ 
tory is so contradictorily narrated. A correct history of him is still a 
desideratum. Clarendon, Nalson, Carte, Hume, and all the long train 
of monarchial writers, whine and lament over his grave, as if he had 
been a mirror of virtue, — a Phocion, an Aristides, a Socrates, a De 
Witt, or a Washington, and had been offered up, an immaculate vic' 
tim to popular rage. But those who take a correct view of his career, 
must acknowledge that he was a bloated mass of almost every species 
of vice and crime of which a public officer is capable, 

Candour, however, calls for the acknowledgment that the proceed-, 
ingagainst him in the trial of the impeachment, were in many respects in- 
formal and irregular; and that he was offered up by the republican party 
in the Long Parliament, full as much to appease their resentment at his 
apostacy from their cause, and to allay their fears of his talents and in' 
fluence, as for his crimes, atrocious as were those crimes. But, what^ 
ever may have been the informality of the course pursued, few public 
functionaries have ever been brought to the block, whose fate was more 
completely sanctioned by the claims of substantial justice. No man 
ever had much less reason to complain of informality: for M'hoever 
compares the proceedings on his trial, with those on the trial of Lord 
Mountnorris,* will be satisfied that there was as much difference between 

* Postea, p. 18t. 
23 



178 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 

them, as between tlie tribunal of HeroJ, and that of Trajan, or Anto- 
ninus. The proceecHngs of the court held on Lord Mountnorris were 
of the most nuirtlerous character. 

Treatment of the Scotch in Ireland. 

When the Scotch, in 1639, took up arms to resist the wicked attempt 
of Charles I. to impose (in them episcopacy, with the rites, ceremo- 
nies, and service of the Church of England, the king was apprehensive 
that they might derive aid from their numerous countrymen in Ireland. 
To prevent this untoward event, he wrote to Strafl'ord to secure their 
fidelity by oath. The deputy, in compliance with this order, framed 
an oath not merely of allegiance, which they would have cheerfully 
taken, but a renunciation of the covenant. 

The Scotch were generally rigid Puritans. They almost universally 
reprobated the Church of England nearly as much as that of Rome. 
A great majority of them had subscribed the covenant, whereby they 
renounced as equally sinful, "popery, prelacy, superstition,*' &c. 
Most of them therefore could not take StralTord's oath without perjury. 
The attempt to enforce it was attended with the most revolting cruelty 
and oppression. Twenty and thirty persons were arrested under one 
warrant, and beaten and abused by the soldiers employed to transport 
them to the magistrates.* Enormous fines and rigorous imprisonment 
were most unmercifully inflicted on the recusants. Every cruelty that 
could be perpetrated short of capital punishments, was tried to accom- 
plish the object so much at heart with the king and his deputy. The 
success did not correspond with the violence employed. Few took 
the oath. Thousands fled from their homes into Scotland, or lurked 
in the wild parts of Ireland.! 

Among the most striking cases of ruinous fines were those of a Mr. 
Stuart and his family, who were all convened before the castle chamber. 
He and his wife were each fined 5000/. and each of his two daughters 
3000/.| amounting to 16,000/. equal at the present value of money, to 

— .»>»fl ® ©<«• .— 

• " Sir James Montgomery," on the trial of the impeachment of Lord Strafford, 
" deposed that the warrant was executed with great cruelty, 20, 30, names in a war- 
rant, the officers beating, wounding, and imprisoning them." — Nalso>", IT. 64. 

+ " Men, women, and all other persons above the years of sixteen, constrained 
either presently to take tlie oath, and thereby renounce their national covenant, as 
seditious and traitorous, or iviih violence and cnieUy to be haled to the jail,Jined 
above the value of their estates, and to be kept close prisoners ! and so far as we 
know, some are yet kept in prison, both men and women of good qualit}', for not re- 
nouncing that oath which they had taken 40 years since, in the obedience to the 
king, who theji lived. Besides, a cruelty ensued, which may parallel the persecu- 
tions of the most unchristian time : for -weak -women dragged to the bench to take 
the oath, died in the place, both motlier and child.' hundreds driven to hide them- 
selves, till in the darkness of the night they might escape by sea into Scotland, 
whither thousands of them did fly, being forced to leave corn, cattle, houses, and 
all they possessed to be a prey to their persecuting enemies, the lieutenant's officers ! 
And some indicted and declared guilty of high treason, for no other guiltiness but 
for subscribing our national oath !" — Rush worth, VIII. 771. 

t " Richard Salmon deposed, that at the proceedings against Mr. Stuart, he being 
willing to take the first part of the oath as to allegiance and supremacy, but the 
jatter part as to ecclesiastical duties he durst not. My lord told him they had other 
oaths for that: but this was for both ; and those who were obedient to ecclesiastical 
orders, he would lay his hands under their feet to do them good ; but whosoevar 



CHAPTER XVII. 179 

the enormous sum of about 4(10,000 dollars! A Mr. Gray was sen- 
tenced at the same time, to pay a fine of 3000/. 

Straflord had the temerity or rather the effrontery and impudence at 
his trial, to assert that those fines were no more than the heinousness 
of the offence deserved,* and that his purpose was, '■'^ fairly ivithout 
any restraint, or violence offered, to endeavour by such manner of 
means as this, to secure the king of the loyalty and allegiance of his 
subjects." — RusHwoRTH, VIII. 503. 

It is very true that these fines were imposed in the castle chamber. 
But the members were mere puppets in the hands of the deputy, by 
whom they were ordered and directed as arbitrarily as a band of Jani- 
zaries by a vizier. He could not keep himself within the bounds of 
decency, when pronouncing sentence — but inveighed against the 
parties with the utmost violence and virulence, declaring that "he 
wanted terms to set forth the heinousness of this cause; and that he 
was to leave his sword •,t but, if it pleased his majesty to return him 
thither again, he hoped to have such as would not conform themselves 
to the discipline of the church, rooted up stock and branch T^ — Idem, 
498. 

Ecclesiastical despotism of Strafford. 

A convocation of the protestant clergy of Ireland, was held in Dub- 
lin during StraO'oid's administration, on the subject of framing a liturgy 
for the church of that kingdom.' They met in two distinct bodies, the 
bishops in the upper house and the remainder of the clergy in the 
lower. Tiie members of the latter were inclined to puiitanism, as 
were many of the upper, among the rest, the primate. Usher. A com- 
mittee was appointed in the lower house, to consider and report on the 
English canon&f This committee had made considerable progress in 
the duty they had undertaken, and were about to suggest various altera- 
tions in the canons submitted to them, when the deputy was informed 
of the course which the affair had taken. He was very wroth, and 
sent for Dr. Andrews, the chairman of the commillec, ordering him to 
bring the book of canons, with its marginal notes, and the report which 
he was to present that evening.."]; When he saw it, he was in an ex- 

—•■>>«©©♦>"— 

would resist, he ivoitld firosecute to the blood I that my lord said further, they had 
made him forget himself" by putting him into some passion; that tliey -were traitort 
and rebels ! and that if his majesty would honour him so much as to send him back 
ai^ain, lie would eradicate root and brunch of all that nation out of the kingdom of 
Ireland, saving the lords and others that had taken the oath ! That Mr. Stuart was 
fined 5000/. his wife 5000/. his two daughters 3000/. a piece, and James Gray 3000/." 
— Nalson, II. 78. 

* "As to the greatness of the fine imposed upon Stuart and others, he conceived 
it was not more than the heiuousness of their offence deserved!.'!! yet had they peti- 
tioned, and submitted the next day, that would wholly have been remitted." — 

FitANKLAN'I), 888. 

•|- This declaration was made when he was about to quit the administration, and 
return to England. 

:(; " I found that the lower house of convocation had appointed a select committee 
to consider the canons of the Church of England; that they did proceed in the ex- 
amination without conferring at all with their bishops ; that they had gone thorough 
the book of canons, and noted in the margin such as they allowed with an A. and 
on others they had entered a D. which stood for deliberandum ; that into the fifth 



180 VINDICLE HIBERNIC>E. 

treme passion ; reproached the dean with great severity ; told him that 
it was an Ananias that had presided over their proceedings — directed 
him to leave the draught ol' the report with him, and commanded 
him, on his allegiance, not to proceed further in the business till he 
heard from him. Having examined the draught, he sent for the 
bishops ; reproved them severely ; and peremptorily forbad them to 
admit of any discussion, and ordered that no question should be taken 
but on allowing the articles of the Church of England in toto, yea or 
nay. He desired the primate to frame a canon to this effect, and send 
it to him for examination. Disapproving it, he drew up one after his 
own fancy, in which " excommunication is denounced against all those 
who should affirm that the articles of the Church of England were such 
as they could not subscribe unto." To this the primate objected, 
telling him that he was apprehensive it would not be ratified. This 
opinion was predicated on the well-known fact, that several of the 
members of both houses, particularly the lower, had concurred in the 
necessity of making alterations in the English canons. The deputy 
was inflexible. His "high behests" were supreme law! They did 
not dare, except one individual, to gainsay his orders. The question 
was put as he directed, and was carried unanimously in both houses, 
very much to the mortification of many of the members ! Thus by 
one arbitrary individual was the faith and religious discipline of a nation 
decided for nearly two centuries past, and probably for many centuries 
to come ! ! ! 

Strafford was desirous of being revenged on Dr. Andrews for the 

article they had brought the articles of Ireland to be alloived and received under 
the pcdn of excommunicutiun ; and that they had drawn up their canons into a 
body, and were ready that afternoon to make report in the convocation. 

" I instantly sent lor dean Andrews, that reverend clerk, who sat, forsooth, in the 
chair at this committee, requiring him to bring along the foresaid book of canons, so 
noted on the riiargin, together with the draught he was to present that afternoon to 
the house : this he obeyed. 

" But when I caine to open the book, and run over their deliberandums in the 
margin, I confess I was not so much moved since I came into Ireland. I told him 
certainly not a dean of Limerick, but an Ananias had sate in the chair of that com- 
mittee ; however sure I was, Ananias had been there in spirit, if not in body, with 
all the fraternities and conventicles of Amsterdam ! that I was ashamed and scandal- 
ized with it above measure. I therefore said he should leave the book and draught 
with me, and that I did commatul him upon his allegiance he should report nothing 
to the house from that committee till he heard again from me ! .' 

" Being thus nettled, I gave present direction for a meeting, and warned the 
primate, the bishops of Meath, Kilmore, Rapho, and Derry, together with dean Leis- 
ley, the prolocutor, and all those who had been of the coumiittee, to be with me the 
next morning. 

"Then I publickly told them how unlike clergymen, that owed canonical obedi- 
ence to their superiors, they had proceeded in their committee; hoiv unheard a part 
it -u) us fur a few petty clerks to presume to malce articles of faith ! without the 
privity or consent of state or bishop ; what a spirit of Brownism and contradiction 
I observed in their deliberandums, as if indeed they purposed at once to take away 
all government and order forth of the church ; and leave every man to chuse his 
own high place, where liked him best. 

" But these heady and arrogant courses they must know I was not to indure, nor 
if they were disposed to be frantic in this dead and cold season of the year, -would 
I suffer them either to be mad in the contiocation or in their pulpits." — Strav- 
ioiiD, I. 343. 



CHAPTER XVII. 181 

course he had steered in the convocation — and advised his promotion 
to the bishopric of Loughlin and Ferns, the income of which was quite 
sliabby and contemptible — " It was," to use his own words, " so saddle- 
girt and spur-galled, as, if the devil himself were the rider, he could 
not make well worse of it than it is already."* With this recom- 
mendation, archbishop Laud complied. 

Case of Lord Mountnorris. 

The case of Lord Mountnorris next demands attention. The pro- 
ceedings on the trial of this nobleman were so extraordinary — the re- 
sult so wholly unjustifiable — and the punishment awarded so utterly 
beyond the offence, that if it were not recorded with the signatures of 
the members of the council, it would be disbelieved and regarded as a 
libel. 

Lord Mountnorris, occupying the high stations of vice-treasurer and 
receiver-general of Ireland, one of the principal secretaries of state and 
keeper of the privy seal, had attracted the wrath of Strafford, by inter- 
fering in defence of some of the victims of his tyranny. At a review 
after this event, a relation of his, for some impropriety of conduct, was 
rebuked by the deputy, who believing, or pretending, that he sneered 
at the rebuke, struck him with a cane; or, according to the statement 
in the sentence of the council, simply laid his cane on his shoulder. 
It must be observed, that it is utterly improbable that a man of Straf- 
ford's imperious disposition and violent temper, would be fcatisfied 
with barely laying a cane on the shoulders of a person against whom 
he had taken offence — and it is not unfair to conclude that he dis- 
graced him by a stroke. This, however, is unimportant as to the 
ultimate result. Some time afterwards this relation, who was then in 
attendance on Strafford, hurt with a siool or stick the foot of the deputy, 
who was afflicted with the gout. The circumstance being told to lord 
Mountnorris in a large company, he unfortunately observed — "Per- 
haps it was done to revenge the affront offered to liim — but he has 
a brother who would not take such revenge." "The very head and 
front of his offending, had this extent, and no more." It is hardly 
credible, but is nevertheless true, that for these expressions, which 
Malice herself could scarcely torture into any thing approacliing to 
criminality, Strafford had the nobleman tried by a court martial, f and 

j- "Before this council I charged the lord Mountnorris with his speeches con- 
cerning me, which his majesty, I humbly thank him, had given me a warrant to do. 
In short, the words were fully proved, and attested in his presence by the lord Moore 
and sir Robert Loftus, and, if there were need, will be, I am sure, by a dozen persons 
more, so publicly was he pleased to traduce me, and fondly to endanger himself. 
After a full and clear hearing of all he could say in his own justification, they pro- 
ceeded to sentence him upon the thirteenth and one and fortieth articles of the pub- 
lic orders in print for the good government or ordering the army. And so have ad- 
judged him to be imprisfmed, disarmed, and to be cashiered and banished forth of 
this army, as having offended against the one and fortieth article, and farther 
adjudged him to die ! as having offended against the thirteenth article .' ! ! ! But 
myself and all the captains will become most humble suitors to his majesty to par- 
don him the punishment of death, which in sti^ictnesa might be jnstlyinfictednpon 

• Strafford, I. 380. 



182 VINDICI^ HIBEKNIC^. 

without allowing him time to prepare for his trial — to have the charge 
in writing — to be heard by counsel — or to produce any witnesses to re- 

him ! And till we receive his majesty's further pleasure therein, he is to remain 
here a prisoner in the castle under the custody of the constable." — Stuaffoiiu, I. 
498. 

Extracts from the judgment of the court martial held on Lord Mouninorris, 

Dec. 12, 1635. 

" We the lord deputy called a council of war, who being this day assembled, we 
the lord deputy in the presence of the said lord Mountnonis did charge him tliis 
offence, that within three or four days or thereabouts, after the end of the parlia- 
ment, it being mentioned at the lord chancellor's table, that after we the lord deputy 
had dissolved the parliament, being sitting down in the presence chamber, one of 
our servants in moving a stool happened to hurt our foot then indisposed through 
an accession of the gout ; that one, then present at the lord chancellor's table, then 
said to the lord Mountnonis, being there likewise, that it was Annesley, his lord- 
ship's kinsman, and one of the lord deputy and general's gentlemen ushers, that 
had done it. Whereupon the lord Mountnorris then publickly and in scornful, con- 
temptuous manner, answered, ' Perhaps it -was done in revenge of that public 
affront -which my lord deputy had done him formerly ; but he has a brother that 
•would 7iot take such a revenge.'' Which charge being so laid, the lord Mount- 
norris was required liy this council of war to make answer thereunto. Who going 
about to answer it, and yet neither confessing nor denying them, this council, after 
some time spent therein, required him to answer the said charge either negatively 
or affirmatively, yet would not confess or deny them. Whereupon the witnesses 
vouched for proof thereof were called. 

" The charge laid against him standing then fully proved, the said lord Mount- 
norris at last submitted himself to the judgment of this council, protesting that what 
interpretation soever his words might have put upon them, he intended no preju- 
dice or hurt to the person of us the deputy and general ; affirming, that by these 
words ' but he hath a brother that would not take such a revenge,' his lordship 
meant only, that he, the said brother, would die before ho would give us the deputy 
and general occasion to give him such a rebuke. 

" We fell in the next place to consider, as of the nature of the offence, so of the 
punishment due thereunto. And first for the nature of the offence, we conceive it 
to contain, first, a calumny against the person of us the deputy and general of the 
army, insinuating by these words, ' the public affront or the disgrace -which my 
lord deputy had done him formerly,^ that indeed there had been such an affront or 
disgrace put upon him by us the lord deputy. Whereas in truth it was nothing so ; 
but that which was pretended by the lord Mountnorris to have been the said dis- 
grace or affront to his kinsman, was this ; that his said kinsman, being one of the 
horse troop commanded by us the lord deputy, in the time of exercising the said 
troop was out of order on horseback, to the disturbance of the rest then in exercis- 
ing ; for which we the lord deputy in a mild manner reproving him ! as soon as we 
turned aside from him, we observed him to laugh and jeer us for our just reproof of 
him, which we disliking, returned to him, and laying a small cane, -which -we then 
carried, on his shoulder, yet -witiiout any blo-w or stroke then given him therewith ! ! 
told him, that if he did serve us so any more, we would lay him over the pate : the 
truth of which fact appeared unto us by the relation of his majesty's said deputy 
and general, avowed and confirmed by two of us the captains, namely, the lord 
Kirkudbright, and sir Frederick Hamilton, knt. who then saw the manner of it; and 
now sat as members of this council. Which said act was by this whole council 
adjudged to have been a far milder proceeding with the said Annesley, than such 
an insolence and disobedience to any commander, much more to his general, me- 
rited. And therefore it was a speech favouring doubtless of malice, to insinuate 
that as an affront or disgrace, which was, indeed, a justly merited, but mild and 
modest reprehension and admonition ! ! 

" Secondly. 'We conceive the offence to contain an incitement to a revenge, in 
these words, • but he has a brother that would not take such a revenge.' Which 



CHAPTER XVII. 183 

but the charge* — found guilty of disrespect to his superior officer and 
of exciting to mutiny — and sentenced to be cashiered — and shot to 
death ! ! This Draconian sentence, actually signed by all the mem- 
incitement might have given encouragement to that brother, being then and now in 
this kingdom, and lieutenant of the said lord Mountnorris's foot company, to the 
said Annesley himself, being continually so near the person of us the deputy and 
general, or to some other, to have taken up resolutions of dangerous consequences. 

" For the punishment due to his oflence, we judge it to be an apparent breach 
and contempt of the 41st article of the printed laws and orders of war, established 
for the good conduct of the service of Ireland, dated the 1 3th of March, 1633, and 
published in print by us the lord deputy, soon after our access to this government, 
in these words of the said article, ' no man shall give any disgraceful words, or 
commit any act to the disgrace of any person in his army or garrison, or any part 
thereof; upon pain of imprisonment, public disarming, and banishment from the 
army, as men for ever disabled to carry arms.' And which is more, in like breach 
and contempt of the 13th article of the said printed laws and orders of war, the 
words of which article arc these : ' JVo man shall offer any violence, or contemptu- 
ously disobey his commander, or do any act or speak any xvords which are like to 
breed any mutiny in the army or garrison, or impeach the obeying of the general 
or principal officer's directions, upon pain of death.'' Which articles are no other 
than the very same articles this army had always been governed by in the time of 
the late lord Faulkland, lord Wilmot, and other the generals before them. And 
therefore this council of wai% in conformity to his majesty's gracious pleasure signi- 
fied as aforesaid, and as well to vindicate the honour of us his majesty's deputy and 
general of his army from the wrong and contempt under which we now suffer ! to 
the scandal of this government, and to the ill example of others ; as also to deliver 
over to all which bear office, or are listed as members of the army under the rule 
and government of us his general, an example of justice, for them to take warning 
by, how they presume to offend against the authority intrusted with us by his ma- 
jesty, do adjudge hereby, order and decree, that the said lord Mountnorris stands 
justly and deservedly liable to undergo the censures, pains and punishment by the 
said 41st and 13th articles, provided against the breakers of all good discipline, and 
the transgressors against those orders, which are by the said 4 1st article, imprison- 
ment, public disarming, and banishment from the army, as a man for ever disabled 
to carry arms; and by the said 13th article, death ! ! ! And therefore according to 
the said articles, this council do unanimously with one joint consent (not one of us 
being of other opinion) adjudge the said lord Mountnorris for his said high and 
great offences, to be imprisoned; to stand from henceforth deprived of all the places 
■with the entertainmeiits due thereunto, ivhich he holds now in the army ! to be diS' 
armed! to be banished the army ! and disabled forever bearing office therein here- 
after ! and lastly to be shot to death ! or to lose his head ! at the pleasure of the 
general ! ! .' ! Given at his majesty's castle of Dublin the twelfth day of December, 
1635, 

" Valentia, Tho. Cromwell, R. Ranelagh, R. Dillon, Law, Esmond, Kirkudbright, 
Jo. Borlasse, Cha. Coote, Tho. Weinman, Arth. Terringham, Art. Blundell, Faith. 
Fortesque, Robert Farrer, Tho. Roper." — Sthaffokd, I. 499. 

* " My lord Mountnorris desired time to answer by counsel ; and that he might 
have his charge ill writing. That being not readily granted, he insisted on it, that 
he might have time to prepare his answer ! but was told, it was contrary to the 
form of that proceeding !! !" — Rushwohth, VIII. 194. 

" I humbly told his lordship, and made solemn protestation, and offered to take 
my oath, that I did never speak the words, as I was able to prove by several wit- 
nesses ; and desired that the lord chancellor, (at whose table they were spoken,) 
and judge martial of the kingdom, then in town, might be summoned to give his 
testimony for truth, and Sir Adam Loftus his son, and near twenty others ; and de- 
sired they might be examined in the cause ; and that I was well able to prove that 
the words charged to be spoken by me, were not spoken by me, but by others, as to 
that part that concerns the affront : but his lordship refused me to have any exam- 
ined .'"—Idem, 190. 



184 VINDICIJE HIBERNICuIi:. 

bers, amoiifr wlioiii were some of the highest nobility, shows how 
Qverwhehniiig was the power of the deputy in the council. StrafTonl 
was a niciiiber, and said he would not choose to be deprived of the 
honour of voting; for the sentence.* 

Charles was dotenninod to support l]\o deputy in all his measures, 
however arliitrary or unjust. The sentence against lord Mountnorris 
was so transcendently wicked, that it excited a great sensation in Eng- 
land, where it was almost universally rcprobatedt — but the king's opi- 
nion in favour of it being announced, the clamour subsided. :j; 

The capital part of the sentence was not, nor probably intended to 
be, carried into execution — but Mountnorris was committed to prison 
on the 12th of December, 1G35,§ and not finally released till March, 
1637 ! ! ! ! — being, however, in the mean while, twice let out on bail in 
consequence of the deposition of his physician, that he was in danger 
of his life. Wentworth was determined not to release him without an 
acknowledgment of the justice of the sentence!!! which Mountnorris 
refused to make,|| Whether he was obliged ultimately to submit, 
there are no means of ascertaining. 

Lady Mountnorris on her knees presented a most affecting petition 
for his pardon and release to the deputy ; but he was inexorable. T| She 

— •••►»* © 9*^— 

* " The carl of Cork deposed, that when the sentence was read in the state- 
chamber, my lord deputy said he ivottld not lose his share in ike hoiiniir of it ; 
Lord Dillon testified the same, and that my lord said it was a 7ioblc and just sen- 
tence ! ! .' .'" — Nalson, II. 59. 

f They "wonder that a peer of the kingdom, a privy counsellor, a treasurer at 
war, though a captain, should be tried in a marshal's court for icords spoken six- 
months before, no enemy in the country, nor the lord deputy in any danger of his 
life by those words !" — Sttiafford, I. 508. 

" They conclude that it cannot be paralleled in any time, cojisiderafis cnnside- 
randis, that any man for the like words, no enemy in the country, so long time 
after, should be adjudged to die .'" — Idem, 510. 

\ A letter from the secretary Coke states, " To the sentence given against the 
lord Mountnorris by the council of war, no exception is taken; and his majesty 
avowing the direction of that way of proceeding, hath calmed and silenced all those 
spirits that began to make a noise! ! ! !" — Idem, 512. 

§ " I was tirst committed the 12th of December ; let go the 18th to my house; 
committed again the 11th of April, put out the second of May : I was then in great 
extremity, and admitted to my house again : where I lay in a long continuing sick- 
ness, and under the hands of physicians. And the 30th of January afterwards, be- 
cause I sued not out the pardon, was imprisoned again, and there continued till 
March, 16.37."— Rush wokth, VIII. 191. 

H " The manager said, the greatest tyranny was the Earl of Strafford's keeping 
him in prison till he should confess the sentence just, which in his heart he abhor- 
red and held niijust." — Nklson, II. 62. 

^ The lady JMountnorris to the lord Strafford. 
" My lord, 
" I beseech your lordship, /or the tender mercy of God, take off your heavy hand 
from my dear lord ; and for her sake who is with God, be pleased not to make me 
and my poor infants miserable, as we must of necessity be, by the hurt you do to 
him. God knows, my lord, that I am a poor distressed woman, and know not what 
to say, more than to beg upon my knees, with my homely prayers and tears, that it 
will please the Almighty to incline your lordship's heart to mildness towards him; 
for if your lordship continue my lord in restraint, and lay disgraces upon him, I have 
too nmch cause to fear that your lordship will bring a speedy end to his life and 
troubles, and make me and all mine forever miserable. Good my lord, pardon these 
woful lines of a disconsolate creature, and be pleased, for Christ Jesus' sake, to take 



CHAPTER XVII. 185 

addressed a similar petition to the king, who, resolved not to impair 
the authority of his most arbitrary, and unfeeling, and rancorous vice- 
gerent, refused to interfere, and left his deliverance to depend on his 
making such submission as should satisfy Wentworth! 

Strafford's malice and vengeance were not satisfied Avith the suffer- 
ings thus inflicted on the victim of his hatred ! He had him afterwards 
cited into the star-chamber court in England,* for what offence I know 
not, nor am I able to state the result. But the Avell-known despotism 
of that court, and the all-powerful influence of Strafford, render it 
highly probable that he was enormously fined. 

It is scarcely possible to add a shade to the atrocity of this affair. 
But it is aggravated by the circumstances, that Mountnorris was pro- 
bably between 60 and 70 years of age— that he had faithfully served 
the king and his father for forty years — that he had twelve children — 
and was completely ruined by the persecution. 

Lord Strafford avowed, after the trial was over, and Lord Mount- 
norris was leleased, that his sole object had been to remove him from the 
country ? ! ! ! ! f This completely capped the climax. 

Case of Jidcmi Loflus, Lord Ely. 

This nobleman was chancellor of Ireland, and a member of the privy 
council. He had been earnestly recommended by Lord Strafford him- 
self, in 1635, as one of the most suitable persons for the office of chan- 

.^— WW© © ©W'— 

this my humble suit into your favourable consideration, and to have mercy upon me 
and mine ; and God will, I hope, reward it into the bosom of you, and your sweet 
children by my kinswoman ; and for the memory of her, I beseech your lordship to 
compassionate the distressed condition of me, 

Your lordship's most humble and disconsolate servant, 

JANE MOUNTNORRIS. 
This I3th of February, 1635-6. 

Endorsed, " A copy of the Lady Mountnorris's letter to the earl of Strafford, 
■when her husband was in prison, under the sentence of death by martial law ; and 
he was so hard-hearted as he gave her no relief." — Clarexdox's S. P., I. 449. 

Extract from lady Mountnorris's petition to the king. " Her husband hath- suf- 
fered in honour, health and imprisonment, for a word misinterpreted, already 
unto twenty thousand pounds loss in estate, unparalleled precedents for a peer of 
that realm ; and still pursued in tlio caatlo chamber, in Ireland, where he can ex- 
pect but sad events, if your majesty's impartial justice redeem him not. He hath 
been a careful and faithful servant in chief place to your majesty's blessed father, ybr 
forty years ; and if he hath erred through human defects, be most humbly craveth 
pardon, and layeth himself at your majesty's feet, to do with him whatsoever your 
majesty shall command. Her bumble suit on her knees, is no more, but that your 
sacred majesty will command his coming into England, being now useless here; his 
place is taken from him; his health impaired; and his estate ruined; and she and 
her tivelve children shall, as in duty bound, pray for your majesty's long and happy 
reign over us." 

* " I hear that the lord Mountnorris kissed the king's hand at Greenwich ; that 
he is much altered, and of a most dejected spirit; that he hath put in his answer 
to the bill in the star-chamber, which your lordship hath put in against him and 
sir Piers Crosby; but I have not seen the man." — Sthafford, II. 86. 

■\ '•' At my lord Mountnorris his departure hence, he seemed wondrously humbled, 
as much as Chaucer's friar, that would not for him any thing should be dead ; so I 
told him I never wished ill to his estate, nor person, further than to remove him 
hence, -where he was as well a trouble as an offence unto me ! ! ! ! ! — Idem, 145. 

34 



ISO VINDICI.E HIBBRNIC.^. 

cellor.* But a circumstance occurred which excited the vengeance of 
the deputy against him, who pursued him with the utmost virulence. 

Strafford liad seduced this lord's daughter. The criminal corres- 
pondence was established by his letters, I'ound in her drawers after her 
death. Her husband, Sir John Gifford, required from his father-in- 
law a greater portion than he tliought proper to bestow upon his 
strumpet daughter, the deputy's mistress. Gifford, by a paper peti- 
tion, brought the affair before the privy council, which issued a de- 
cree in his favour. The chancellor, relying on its illegality, refused 
compliance ; and, in punishment of his contumacy, was sequestered 
from his seat in the privy council.' deprived of the seal as chancellor ! 
and committed to prison! Notwithstanding the high commendations 
previously bestowed on him by the deputy, a variety of charges of 
malversation in office were now adduced against him, to answer the 
purposes of the moment. He appealed to Charles for redress against 
such flagitious oppression: but tlie despotic monarch, determined to 
support his implacable vicegerent, rejected the petition: and the chan- 
cellor was reduced to the humiliating neeessiiy of deprecating the 
vengeance of the insolent satrap, by an acknowledgment of offence 
and a supplication for pardon ! t 

During Strafford's whole administration, acts of state, or, in other 
words, acts of the privy council, had all the force of the laws of the 
land ! and were enforced by arrest, fine, and imprisonment \\ 

Jurors who refused to give verdicts agreeably to the wishes of the 
judges and the government, were cited before the star-chamber court, 
and ruinously fined, and most grievously imprisoned. § 

• " It much concerns his service that a man able and well affected exercise that 
place ; craving the boldness to recommend sir Adam Loftus to his majesty's re- 
membrance, a person only known to me, by his o-wn virtue arid chearfidness in his 
majesty's affairs. And to deliver my poor judgment, I see no man on this side that 
can iveiffh against him, having equal sufficiency with the ablest amongst them, and 
more generosity than they all." — Idem, I. 306, 

" Only for lus majesty's more full information I shall crave leave in some par- 
ticulars to offer my humble advice. I judge his majesty will be much better served 
in sir Adam Loftus than in his lordship ; for sure he is a gentleman olrfar greater 
abilities, and much better governed ; besides one that I am confident would be much 
more pleasing to the rest of his majesty's ministers here, than his lordship." — 
Stuafford, I. 403. 

■j- " Loftus found it necessary to purrbasp bis tibprty and his former station, by 
an humble petition to the deputy and council, by which he acknowledged his offence 
in the most mortifying terms of submisaion and repentance ! !" — Leland, IIL 46. 
t Extract from the Impeachment of Lord Strafford. 

" Article 4. The said earl of Strafford said that he would make the carl [of 
Cork] and all Ireland know, so long as he had the government there, any act of 
ttate, there made or to be made, should be as binding to the subjects of that king- 
dom, as an act of parliament." — Baker, 499. 

" As for the words, he confessed them to be true ; and thought he said no more 
than what became him ; considering how much his master's honour was concern- 
ed in him ; and that if a proportionable obedience was not as ivell due to acts of state, 
as to acts of parliament, m vain did councils sit ! ! ! and that he had done no more 
than what former deputies had done." — Idem, 507. 

" He proved by the lord Dillon, in the lord Chichester's and lord Grandison's 
time, that the acts of state were by the judges reputed as laws of the land for the 
present} and proceeded by arrest, imprisonment, and fines, upon contempt ; which 
sir Adam Loftus confirmed." — Nalson, II. 58. 

§ " Concerning the sentencing of jurors, and the questioning them in the star- 



CHAPTER XVI. 187 

Strafford uniformly proceeded on the iniquitous principle, *' that 
Ireland was a conquered country, and that the king was the law- 
giver, in all matters not determined by acts of parliament,"* This 
principle he openly avowed on his trial, when his life was in jeopardy, 
for this and other causes : and this fully accounts for the despotic au- 
thority he assumed, — for his outrageous proceedings with parliament, 
— for the insatiable rapacity of his depredations in Connaught — and 
for all the endless variety of injustice and oppression, which marked 
his despotic career, as lord deputy of Ireland. 

One odious feature of his administration, which he likewise admit- 
ted on his trial, and for which he pleaded precedent as a justification, 
was sending parties of soldiers to execute orders of state, or decrees of 
courts.t It is easy to conceive the oppression that would be com- 
mitted by such officers of justice, let loose on the objects of his ven- 
geance ! On the extent of this grievance, the evidence of Sir Arthur 
Tyringham, who was cited in Strafford's defence, throws great light. 
He deposed, that " In Faulkland's time, he knew twenty soldiers as- 
sessed upon one man, for refusiug to pay sixteen shillings ster- 
ling JJ.'jr '—Baker, 511. 

Lord Strafford, when answering to the article of his impeachment 
on the subject of martial law, replied, " It has been always in force, 
and executed in all times in Ireland, and never so sparingly as in my 
lime."J Persons going up and down the country, who could not give 

— "ws ft e«»— 

chamber," said Lord Strafford, on his trial, " it is true ; divers of these sentencet 
viere past." — N^iLsojf, II. 45. 

* Article 3, of the Impeachment. 

" He did declare and publish, that Ireland -was a cenquered nation ; and that the 
king might do tvith them ivhat he pleased." — Baker, 499. 

" ' True it is,' he said, ' Ireland was a conquered nation ; which no man can 
deny : and that the king is the lawgiver, in matters not determined by acts of par- 
liament, he conceived all loyal subjects would grant.' " — Fbanklanb, 8S3. 

■\ " Article 15. That the said earl did, by his own authority, without any war- 
rant or colour of law, tax and impose great sums of money upon the towns of Balti- 
more, Bandonbridge, Tallagh, and divers other towns or places, in the realm of 
Ireland ; and did cause the same to be levied npon the inhabitants of those tn-wns 
by troops of soldiers, viith force and arms, in a warlike manner: and, on the ninth 
of March, in the twelfth year of his now majesty's reign, traitorously did give au- 
thority unto Robert SavilJe, a sergeant-at-arms, and to the captains of companies of 
soldiers in several parts of the realm, to send such numbers of soldiers to lie on the 
lands and houses of such as ivould not conform to his orders ! until they should 
render obedience to his said orders and warrants; and after such submission, and 
not before, the said soldiers to return to their garrisons ; and did also issue the like 
warrants unto divers others, which warrants were in warlike manner put in execu- 
tion accordingly ; and by such warlike means he did force divers of his majesty's 
subjects of that realm to submit themselves to his unlawful commands." — Bakkh, 
501. 

To this article the earl replied, <' that to this day nothing hath been more usual 
in Ireland, than for the governors to appoint soldiers to put all manner of sentences 
in execution, which he proved plainly to have been done frequently, a.rn\ familiarly 
exercised in Grandison's, Faulkland's, Chichester' 8,JVilniot's, Cork's, and all pre- 
ceding deputies' times." — Idem, 511. 

* " The earl answered, that the lord deputies have ever exercised martial lata, 
upon the march of the armies, at well in time of peace a* tvar ! ! ! ! " — NAL80»f 
IL 60. 



188 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC.^. 

a good account of themselves, were hanged by the j)rovost mar- 
shal!' ! '' 

It must be obvious, even to a cursory observer, that when indivi- 
duals had the power of executing martial law on persons " who 
could not give a good account of themselves,''^ many men, obnoxious 
to ihs ruling powers, would, merely on that ground,- be regarded as 

• " I dare appeal to those that know the countr}^ whether in former times many 
men have not been committed and executed by the deputies' warrant, that were not 
thieves and rebels, but such as went up and down the country. If they could not 
give a good account of themselves, i\\c provost marshal, by direction of the deputiel, 
using in such cases to hang them up. I dare say, THERE ARE HUNDREDS 
OF EXAMPLES IN THIS KIND ! ! ! " 

The above quotation was, in the second edition, referred to Nalson's Collections, 
n. 115. This was an error, which I did not discover, till I was verifying- the refer- 
ences for the present edition. Whence I derived it, I cannot tell. But it is to be 
observed that, so far as regards the wanton waste of human life, by martial law, in 
time of peace, the fact does not require the support of the quotation in question. 
When this fearful power was entrusted to marshals and their deputies, as appears to 
have been the case by the depositions of Lord Wilmot, Lord Dillon, and the Earl of 
Ely, avarice, malice, or revenge, would easily convert innocent enemies into " rebels, 
or outlaws, or kerns, or persons who could not give a good account of themselves." 
Such a power, conferred on such persons, in the best regulated government in Chris- 
tendom, would give rise to hideous abuses. How awful, then, must have been the 
result in a country of such egregious misrule, where the nation was divided into 
lawless oppressors on the one side, and defenceless serfs on the other 1 What havoc 
must have been made under this execrable system, during the long period that 
elapsed during the reign of James, and until the impeachment of Stratford — above 
thirty years ! ! 

" Lord Dillon deposed that martial law had been practised, and men hanged by 
it, in times of peace." — Nalsox, II. 60. 

" Lord Wilmot deposed that martial law is so Fur-atrENT ax d so oudistaiit in Ire- 
land, and so little offensive, that the common litui takes no offence at it ! ! /" — 
RUSHWORTH, VIII. 198. 

It could not, of course, be very " offensive" to those who enacted it — to those by 
•whose order it was executed — nor, indeed, to those whose situation secured them 
from its operation. But we may easily conceive how " offensive" it was to the un- 
fortunate and ill-fated wretches who were its victims. 

" The Earl of Ely deposed that martial law was in use in the kingdom of Ireland 
— and was twofold, summary and plenary — the first for rebels and kerns that kept 
the woods," [these " kerns," it is to be fairly presumed, were " those who could not 
give a good account of themselves ;"] " the other in the time of war, in the field, 
■which ended when the army was dissolved. That the use of it was rare, «/i i-egard 
of the damage to the king ! the party condemned losing oxlx life! ! ! ! — not goods 
and estate." — Nalson, II. 60. 

This feature of the administration of martial law secured to those who had 
estates a trial by jury, (in which, in a portion of the period in question, their fate 
was almost as certain as in a trial by martial law.) But those wretches who could 
" only lose their lives ! .'" were left to the tender mercies of humane marshals and 
their equally humane deputies. 

" Lord Dillon deposed that he heard that the provosts marshal had taken and 
hanged men by martial law, since the beginning of the reign of James. That of 
rebels and outlaws, there is no question." — Rushwohth, VIII. 189. 

It is true that some of the witnesses on the trial of Straflbrd deposed that they 
had rarely known of such executions. But this aflbrds no disproof of the fact. 
Scores of " kerns" and supposed " rebels and outlaws" might be hung every week 
in the wilds of Connaught or Munster, and the news never reach the ears of the 
nobility in Dublin. These negations are put down by the declaration of Lord 
Dillon, that martial law was " so frequent and so ordinary that the common law 
took 710 notice of it." 



CHAPTER XVII. 189 

persons " who could not give a good account of themselves :" and, in- 
ferring from known principles of human nature, — from the eternal 
tendency in the possessors of uncontrolled power to abuse it, — from 
the rancorous and malignant spirit that existed towards the Roman 
Catholics, — and, at least in an equal degree, from the impunity their 
oppressors experienced, it is by no mearrs improbable, that of the 
" hundreds of persons'''' who were thus hanged, as " 7iot able to give 
a good account of'tliemselves,'''' there were many incomparably supe- 
rior in worth and standing to the military executioners, by whose 
sentence they were hurr-ied to their last account with " all their sins 
and imperfections on their heads." 

How little value must have been set upon human life, — liow de- 
plorable the waste of the species, — what scenes of carnage and deso- 
lation must have taken place, when, in a time of peace, those " who 
could not give a good account of themselves^'' were liable to be hanged ! 
Who was to decide on the goodness of the account? Probably, in 
most cases, a merciless wretch, who united in liis person the three 
characters of judge, jury, and executioner! 

I shall close the account of the malversations of Lord Strafford, with 
two or three individual cases of injustice and violence, which are fair 
specimens 'of his general administration. A. suit was instituted by Sir 
James Craig, against a certain Dermot M'Carty, which was twice dis- 
missed from court 'as unjust. The plaintiff applied to Strafford, who 
gave a deci-ee in his favour for the enormous sum of 5496/. ! ! ! which 
totally ruined the defendant, who applied for permission to go to Eng- 
land, where he hoped for redress. But the deputy issued a positive 
prohibition to leave the kingdom.* An arbitrary proclamation had 
been issued in 1635, prohibiting the nobility, undertakers, and others, 
who held estates in Ireland, from leaving the kingdom withoutlicense. 
But this proclamation, in its most rigorous interpetation, could never 
justly extend to the case of M'Carty; and even if it did, could not 
justify the refusal of license. 

On the commitment of Lor'd Ely, his confidential servant, James 
Parry, was summoned to the council-board, and interrogated with a 
view of criminating his master. He was then dismissed, with orders 
to attend for further examination, and did attend every day for a week, 
without being summoned to the board again. At the end of the week, 

f "DnbUn Castle, 28tli June, 1637. 

"For our reasons, best known to ourselves, we think it not fit to grant the peti- 
tioner's request; but do rather hereby expressly inhibit, and forbid him to transport 
himself into England, or any part beyond the seas, without ovir licence first-had in 
that behalf! and, of these directions the petitioner is required, not only to take no- 
tice, but also obey the same, as he will answer the contrary at his utmost peril !" 

RUSHWORTH, VIII. 465. 

" Jpril 3, 1641. 

"James Nash deposed that he knew the passages of all the causes, having been a 
solicitor and agent for the father of Mac Carty, and waiting on their occasions in 
Dublin. That after the obtaining of two dismissions in the suit, my lord did order 
and decree for sir James Craig, 5496^ against Mac Caity. And on this decree an 
order to dispossess liim of all Jus fattier s estate ; ajid tie banislied into a foreign 
part ! the young man, for fear, would not come in and appear ; but, hoping to have 
redress in England, did petition in this matter, in desire and hope to have redress in 
that decision made by the lord Strafford." — Ibid. _ ' - 



IQQ VINDICIiE HIBERNIC.E. 

lord Ely sent him to England to make proper representation of his case 
to the government there. In order to prevent his application, and of 
course to defeat Lord Ely's object, Strafford immediately wrote to Eng- 
land to have Parry arrested and sent back, which was accordingly 
done. On his return he was fined 500/. — imprisoned — and totally 
ruined.* 

Lord Roche having been sued in the star-chamber in England, ap- 
plied for permission to go over to justify himself — ^but was refused.! 

Two members of parliament, appointed by the house of commons 
a committee to present a remonstrance to king Charles, were denied 
license to depart, and an embargo laid on the shipping to prevent 
them.! 

From the whole tenor of Strafford's conduct, and from his declara- 
tions, it incontestibly appears that he contemplated the establishment 
of a complete despotism at least in Ireland, and doubtless would have 
finally aided in its establishment in England, had he not been arrested 
in his career. As long as his administration continued in Ireland, he 
was successful — for iiis government was very nearly as arbitrary as that 
of the then reigning king of France or Spain. § 

Eulogy has been lavished on the disinterestedness of Lord Strafford 
and his disregard of his personal concerns. " Whatever affection he 
had for power, he had very little of self-interest in him." [Carte, I. 
56.] This trait of character is just as unfounded as the rest of his 
history, narrated by Carte, Leland, and Hume. He amassed enormous 
wealth in Ireland by his rapacity and monopolies. || He had a large 
family, and lived with great prodigality — and yet he was enabled to 
provide a single cliild with an estate of 5000/. a year, and woods, 

—••»»•© ©SO"— 

• " Henry Parry deposed, that his lord and master, the lord chancellor Ely, being 
committed to the castle of Dublin, the earl sent for him, and commanded him to 
attend the judges to be examined about some papers seized ; that he attended six 
days; but his lord having occasion to make use of his friends' interest, sent him 
over into England to solicit his majesty for relief; that here he was attached by Mr. 
Secretary Cook's warrant ; that he entered into bond before he could be discharged 
of the messenger, to return into Ireland ; that after his return he -was fined 500/. 
and ordered to acknowledge his offence at the board ; and that he ivas imprisoned 
. and Jttterlif riiined ; that his fine was reduced to 250/. ; that he paid 184/." — Nal- 

BON, II. 74. 

-j- " The lord Roche deposed, that he was denied license, intending to come over 
to justify himself against an information in the star chamber." — Ibid. 

^ " Sir Robert Smith deposed, that having a command from the house of com- 
mons in Ireland to come over hither, he was denied license, and -^ restraint was 
laid upon shipping upon that account. Mr. Fitzgarret deposed to the same ef- 
fect." — Ibid. 

§ " So as I can now say, the king is as absolute here, as any prince in the whole 
world can be, and may be still, if it be not spoiled on that side." — Strafford, I. 
344. 

11 His profits by the monopoly of tobacco were most exorbitant. He bought it 
at 4c?., 6d., and 8d. per pound, and sold it at 2s., 2s. 6^/., and 3s. The council un- 
der his directions, issued a proclamation prohibiting the sale of any tobacco, without 
his seal. Those who contravened the proclamation, were fined, imprisoned, and 
pilloried by order of the council. Sixty at a time have been committed to prison. 
It was stated on his trial, that his gains by this monopoly exceeded the whole pub- 
lic revenue of Ireland. — Rushwouth, VIII, 402, 3, 4, and 5. 



CHAPTER aCVII. 191 

which, near London, would be worth 50,000/.* The estate of 5000/. 
at twelve years' purchase, amounted to 60,000/. — and suppose the woods 
worth only half the estimate, the whole forms an aggregate of 85,000/,, 
equal, according to the present value of money, to above 2,000,000 of 
dollars — to one son ! 

This, truly, is a wonderful proof of great disinterestedness and dis- 
regard of wealth. But in addition, he stated on his trial, that by the 
wanton waste committed on his papers and evidences of debts, &c. 
&c., he lost 80,000/.t This sum must liave consisted chiefly of per- 
sonal property. He stated that he had, in his warehouses, at the 
time of his arrest, tobacco to the value of 40,000/. This was 
seized, and formed part of the 80,000/. When to the above items, 
is added the residue of his fortune, it is not improbable that the wliole 
amount was equal to at least 5 or 6,000,000 of dollars of our present 
money. J kwA he was only seven years lord deputy; during which 
short period he had, with consummate ^''disinterestedness,'''' depredated 
on the unfortunate Irish to this enormous amount. He commenced 
his career in life, as a plain country gentleman, of an independent but 
moderate fortune. It is doubtful, therefore, whether his depredations 
did not equal, perhaps exceed those of Verres. 

In deciding on the conduct of this satrap, it is highly important to 
bear in mind, that almost every item, at all events every important 
count of the accusation, either rests wholly oris collaterally confirmed 
by that imperishable monument of his rancour, malice, extortion, and 
oppression — his own letters. 

There is one point of the history of Lord Strafford which requires 
elucidation, as it has been very strangely misunderstood and misre- 
presented. One of the acts for granting a subsidy to the crown, has 
an elaborate exordium, of the most encomiastic character, respecting 
Lord Strafford's administration, which has been adduced as conclusive 
proof of his merits : — 

" After an encomium on his majesty's goodness to his people of Ireland, the clause 
follows in these Words, " And particularly in providing and placing over us so just, 
■wise, vigilant, and profitable a governor as the right honourable sir Thomas 
Wentivorth, knight, earl of Strafford, lord lieutenant of your majesty's said kingdom 
of keland ! ! ! who by his great care and travail of body and mind, sincere and up- 
right administration of justice without partiality ! ! ! increase of your majesty's 
revenue -without the least hurt or grievance to any of your -well-disposed atul 
loving subjects ! ! .' and to our great comfort and security by the large and ample 

• " I will build him a good house, and by God's help leave him, I think, near 
three thousand pounds a year, and wood on the ground as much, I dare say, if near 
London, as would yield fifty thousand pounds ; besides a house within twelve miles 
of Dublin, the best in Ireland, and land to it, which, I hope, will be two thousand 
pounds a year, all which he shall have to the rest, had I twenty brothers of his to 
set besides me." — Sthaffoiid, II. .380. 

f " The earl having directed his plate and household goods to be brought to 
England, they appointed a committee to seize them on ship-board, to break open all 
rooms, doors, chests, and locks, and take away all his writings and evidences, making 
such terrible havock by these orders, and the cruel execution of them, that (as the 
earl affirmed solemnly at his trial) it -was to his damage above eighty thousand 
pounds." — Carte, I. 127. 

t In these and some former calculations, I have supposed the value of money to 
have decreased to one-sixth, within the last one hundred and eighty years. How 
far this estimate is correct, the reader will decide. 



193 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE. 

benefits which wc have received and hope to receive by your majesty's commission 
of grace for remedy of defective titles procured hither by his lordship from your sa- 
cred majesty ! ! his lordship's great caro and jjains in restoration of the church; the 
reinforcement of the army within this kingdom, and ordering the same with such 
singular and good discipline, as that it is now become a grear comfort, stay, and 
security to this your whole kingdom, which before had an army rather in name tlian 
in substance ; his support of your majesty's wholesome laws here established ! ! 
his encouragement and countenance to your judges and other good officers, minis- 
ters, tmd dispensers of your laws, in the due and sincere administration of justice ! ! ! 
his necessary and just Btiictness for the execution thereof! his due punishment of 
the contemners of the same, and his care to reliove and redress the poor and op- 
pressed. For this your tender care over us, shewed by your deputing and support- 
ing of so good a governor ! ! we your faiihfnl subjects acknowledge ourselves more 
bound than we can with tongue and pen express," &c. — Carte, I. 93. « 

. When lie was imjieached in England, the Irish house of commons 
drew up arlieles against him, and forwarded them to London, by 
agents specially authorized to take the necessary measures to prose- 
cute an impeachment. Here appears a gross inconsistency, which 
has led some writers, particularly Carte, to censure the house of 
commons severely, as if they had, unjustly and wickedly, united with 
the enemies of Straffoid, to calumniate him, by accusations utterly des- 
titute of truth. 

That these accusations do not fall within this description, is indis- 
putable from the preceding statements, respecting liOrd Mountnorris, 
Lord Ely, Mr. Stuart, Parry, &c., established by solemn depositions. 
No panegyrics, however elaboiate, even if unanimously passed, could 
wipe away tliese foul stains. The falsehood, then, must necessarily 
be in the preamble. How this very extraordinary article came to be 
introducetl into an act of subsidy, remains to be discussed. The ty- 
ranny of Strafford, and tlie slavish dependence in which he held the 
parliament,* would sullicienlly account for the interpolation, even had 
it been introduced in a full house. But the house of commons most 
explicitly declared, in a memorial to the king, that it was introduced 
fraudidentlji and loithout the privify of the house. -f 

It is higldy probable, as he was going to England, and desirous of 
some support against the opprobrium* which his despotic proceed- 

—■•>►*©»«<• — 

* " Sir Kobert Talbot ventured to make some remarks on the conduct of Wftit- 
worth, tor which he ivas expelled from the house of commons, and imprisoned." — 
Commons Journal. 

■j- " The knights, citizens, and burgesses in parliament assembled, do hereby de- 
clare and protest that to prevent and anticipate the just and universal complaints of 
his majesty's most faithful, dutiful, and loving subjects of this kingdom ** the afore- 
said preamble [to the act of subsidies] was contrived, penned, and inserted fraudu- 
lently, (without the privity of the house,) either by the earl of Stratford himself, or 
by some other person or persons, advisers, proc\u-ers, or actors of, and in, the mani- 
fold and general grievances and oj)pressious of his majesty's Idngdom of Ireland, by 
the direction and privity of the said earl. And they require their committee, then 
attending his majesty, to present unto him thattlieir j)rotestation and proofs thereof ; 
and likewise to jjresent vuito his majesty, their humble request, that an act might be 
passed in that ])arliament for revoking, vacating, and taking from the records of par- 
liament, the before-recited part of the preamble concerning the earl of Straflbrd." — 
CuimiF., I. 1G7. 

* " I had been defamed for barbarous a7ul cruel usage of the late earl of St, 
Jllbans aiid the lord Aioi/nlnorris — slanted upon as a cozener and impostor in the 
customs — charged by sir Piers Crosby with an horrid murder, the silly man daily 
countenanced and fomented by some at court in his senseless calumnies. And in a 
word, reported to all the world rather for a basha of Buda, than the minister of a 
pious and Christian king." — Sthaffohd, II. 27. 



CHAPTER XVII. 193 

ings had attached to his name, that he manoeuvred to bring forward the 
bill for a last reading in a thin house, composed chiefly of his own 
partizans, those officers whom he so carefully caused to be chosen 
into parliament, and then artfully introduced the preamble; or, as as- 
serted by the Irish house of commons, fraudulently interpolated it. For 
such tricks he was admirably calculated. 

While the letters of Strafford contain such damning evidences of dis- 
regard of justice, and the most implacable malignity, the most insatia- 
ble avarice, and the most dire thirst for vengeance on all who offended 
him, he had the effrontery and hypocrisy to attempt to delu-de his cor- 
respondents into the opinion that he was one of the most pure and 
immaculate of human beings ; and that his engaging in worldly affairs, 
instead of devoting himself to divine contemplations, arose wholly from 
his regard to the interests of the king ! It is sickening to contrast those 
pious effusions with the satanical spirit he manifested towards Lord 
Mountnorris, Ely, and the other victims of his wrath. 

" God hnorvs hmv little delight I take in the outwards of this life ! ! hoiv in- 
finitely ill satisfied I am iiiBh myself, to find daily those calm and quiet retire- 
ments ! .' loherein to contemplate some tilings more divine and sacred than this 
■world can afford ns ! ! .' at every moment interrupted thorough the importunity of 
the aflairs I have already. To heaven and earth I protest it, it grieves my very 
soul, and that it is nothing but love (if I may be admitted a word of so near a dis- 
tance, and of so little courtship) to the persons of his majesty and yourself, that 
could make me take up this yoke and follow ! ! ! no other affection or passion could 
effect it ! ! " — Straffohd, I. 79. 

" I thank God, / never found a purpose in my heurf to ivrong any creature ! .' .' .' 
—Idem, II. 284. 

" It is against my nature and disposition continually to dwell upon contestation 
in a manner with all men ! vi'here nothing is sought by me but quietness, silently 
and peaceably to pass over this life! ! ! I call the heavenly power to -witness, no 
other respect but the service of God and his majesty should longer oblige me unto 

it .' ! ! 1 StK AFFORD, II. 157. 

" Where I may seem to take any thing to myself. / am naturally modest ! and 
should be extream unwilling to be held supercilious or imperious amongst them." — 
Idem, I. 201. 

Never in human affairs was the bitter chalice of retributive justice 
more completely returned to the lips of an unfeeling persecutor, than it 
was to those of Lord Strafford in a few short years. He, who spurned 
the supplications of a high-born lady, lowly bending on her knees, and 
praying for mercy on an aged and venerable husband, writhing under 
confinement, sickness, and ruined fortunes — and was inexorable to the 
prayers of Lord Ely — was finally brought to the bar himself, and there 
with tears in his eyes, strove to excite in his prosecutors that pity and 
mercy, wiiich, in the course of his life, he had never accorded to any 
supplicant. — 

" My lords," says he in the conclusion of his last address to the house of lords, 
" I have troubled you longer than I should have done, were it not for the interest 
of th:;se pledges,* that a saint in Jieaven left me. I would be loth, my lords 
— {here his weeping stopt him.) What I forfeit for myself is nothing; but, I con- 
fess, that my indiscretion should forfeit for them, it wounds me very deeply. You 
will be pleased to pardon my infirmity. Something I should have said; but I see I 
shall not be able, and therefore let it pass." — Nalsox, II. 123. 

— ••»e®»«" — 

* The recollection of his utter disregard of lady Mountnorris's twelve " dear 
pledges," must at that moment have excited the keenest remorse. ' " r- 

25 .;v*?VMI'>^^ 






194 VINDICI^ HIBEKjMIC^. 

May I be allowed to add a few words here on the character and 
conduct of Charles I. who performed so capital a part in the atlairs of 
Ireland during this period ? That he did many things during the civil 
war, which his warmest friends cannot justify, has never been denied. 
But in extenuation of most of them, it may be justly observed, that 
in the extraordinary circumstances of that period, he was scarcely 
master of his conduct, and was often imperiously forced to command 
and to sanction acts which he might not approve. But with respect 
to Ireland, during the whole of the administration of Straflbrd, he stood 
on totally different ground. No circumstances then pressed him. He 
was completely master of his conduct. His sic volo, sic jubeo, 
was supreme law. And his uniform support of Strafford in all his de- 
predations — in his flagitious and atrocious oppression of Mountnorris 
and Ely — and in the whole series of his misdeeds, imprints a stain on 
his memory which will descend to the latest posterity ; and which the 
talents of all the Clarendons and all the Humes that ever existed, if 
united in his defence, would never efface. Straflbrd, after the major 
part of these atrocities had been perpetrated, wpnt to court, and gave 
an account of his proceedings to the privy council ; of the whole of 
which Charles expressed the most unqualified approbation; — 

" Here his majesty interrupted me, and said, that ivas no severity ; -wished me to 
go on in that ivay : for, if I served him otherwise, I should not serve him as he ex- 
pected from me." — Straffoud, II. 21. 

" His majesty was pleased to express his approbation of all I have done ; their 
lordships, to advise, / should go on in the work so well begun ; and that it must be 
acknowledged the best service that had been done this crov^'n in Ireland. So I 
kneeled down, kissed the king's hand, and the council rose." — Ibid. 

Strafford's deportment at his death was exemplary — wholly free as 
well from a vain aftectation of indifference to, as any womanish fear 
of, the awful close of his career. Whether he had expiated his of- 
fences by repentance, is known only to his Maker. The primate of 
Ireland, who attended at his execution, speaks of his exit from the 
world encomiastically. 

" The lord primate of Ireland, giving an account to the king of the manner of his 
death, told him, that he had seen many die, but iiever saw so white a soul return to 
his maker! a" — Nalson, II. 202, 

P.S. Nov. 7, 1836. Since the preceding half sheet was printed off, 
I have, to my inexpressible gratification, discovered that the quotation 
from Lord Strafford's address, in pp. 187 and 188, which in the second 
edition is referred to Nalson's Collections, is from Rushworth, Vol. VIII, 
p. 649. I had spent some hours in the eflbrt to trace it to its proper 
source — but in vain — and relinquished the effort, with grievous morti- 
fication, at the plausible opportunity it would afford to some malignant 
critic, to charge me with falsification. The reader may, perhaps, con- 
ceive, but he cannot easily overrate, the joy I felt at the accidental dis- 
covery of the passage in the above page of Rushworth. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 195 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Fallacious view of the situation of Ireland for forlyyears previous to 
the Insurrection 0/1641, Outrageous persecution. Vandalic and 
sacrilegious attack on the altars of the living God; robbery of 
their ornaments ; and brutal assault on the ministers while occu- 
pied in Divine worship. 

" What has been said of the chief, is true of the inferior officers. * * * Each in his 
province exercising the same tyranny, and grinding the people by an oppression the 
more severely felt as it was near them, and exercised by base and subordinate per- 
sons." BuilKE. 

" JVeedy projectors and rapacious courtiers still continued tlie scandalous traf- 
fic of pleading t/ie king's title against the possessors of estates, of seizing tJieir 
lands, or forcing them to grievous c amp o si lions." — Leland, III. 15. 

" I have dipped enougti into your toorlc to be satisfied of your success in show- 
ing tJiat the IrisJi nation has been as much traduced by the pen of /listory as it has 
been scourged by the rod of power." — James Madisojt, President of the United 
States. 

In order to excite a deadly abhorrence of the Irish Roman Catholics 
for the insurrection, which is so generally styled " the execrable rebel- 
lion of 1641," nearly all the writers of Irish history have drawn 
such a picture of the state of the country for forty years previous to 
that lamentable event, as would almost induce a reader to believe that 
there was a perfect millenium in Ireland — that the government was 
mild and beneficent — that life, liberty, property, and the exercise of re- 
ligious opinions, were as well secured as they are at present in the 
United States. 

I subjoin three of those fraudulent statements, which are not only 
not true, but as foreign from truth as Belzebub from the arch-angel 
Michael. 

" Their priests, Jesuits, and friars, -without any manner of restraint, had quietly 
settled^ themselves in all the chief towns, villages, noblemen's and private gentle- 
men's houses, throughout the kingdom! so as tlie private exercise of all their 
RKLiarous KITES ANn cEUEiMoxiES ivus freely enjoyed by them .' .' -without any 
manner of disturbance ! ! ! and not any of tlie laws put in execution, whereby 
heavy penalties were to be inflicted upon the transgressors in that kind ! ! ! " — 
Texple, 15. 

" The whole nation enjoyed an undisturbed exercise of their religion ! and eveii 
in Dublin, where the seat of the king's chief governor was, tliey went as publicly 
and as uninteruptedly to their devotions as lie went to his.'.'.'.' Their bishops, priests, 
and all degrees of secular and regular clergy, were known to be, and exercise their 
functions among them : and though there were some laws against them still in force, 
which necessity and the wisdom of former ages had caused to be enacted to suppress 
those acts of treason and rebellion which the people frequently fell into, and the 
policy of present times kept unrepealed, to prevent the like distempers and designs, 
yet the edge of those laws was so totally rebated by the clemency and compassion, 
of the king ! that no man could say he had suffered prejudice or disturbance in or 
for his religion ! ! !" — Clarexdox's Ireland, p. 8. 

" The whole nation, generally speaking, enjoyed an undisturbed exercise of 
ttieir religion ! ! Even in Dublin itself, which is the seat of administration, the 
Roman Catholics went, thougti not as publicly, yet as uniiiten/pfedly, to their de- 
votions as the chief governor did to hi-t .' .' .' .' They had their titular archbishops, 
bishops, vicars-general, provincial synods, deans, abbots, friars, and nuns, who all 



196 VINDICL^ HIBERNICE. 

lived freely, though somewhat covertly amongst them ! and ■tvithoiit restraint ex- 
ercised their respective jurisdictions ! They had also their priests and Jesuits who 
were of late years multiplied exceedingly from Spain and Italy and other parts 
abroad ; whither the children of the native Irish were usually sent for their educa- 
tion. These priests and Jesuits, ivithoxU any restraint .' ! ! had settled themselves 
quiethi in all the chief towns and villages, and in the noblemen's and gentlemen's 
houses throughout the kingdom ! Thus, though it was privately, yet tlie exercise 
of all their religious rites and ceremonies, was enjoyed freely, and without any 
control .' ! .'.' and though there were some laws against them still in force, which the 
wisdom and necessity of former ages had caused to be enacted, and which the policy 
of the present times had kept unrepealed, yet the edge of those laws was so totally 
rebated by tlie indulgence of the government, that not a single man could say that 
he had suffered any prejudice or disturbance fur his religion ! ! ! .'" — Warneh, 2. 

It is a just rule, of universal application, that when a witness has 
testified to a wilful falsehood, the competence of his testimony in fu- 
ture wholly fails. This rule applies equally to historians in all cases 
in wliich there is such an obvious and glaring perversion of fact, as 
cannot be fairly ascribed to human fallibility, but must have arisen from 
corrupt and sinister views. And, moreover, Avhen a writer is detect- 
ed in egregious errors, particularly on vital points, even if those errors 
be wholly unintentional, and have proceeded merely from want of the 
requisite industry in investigating the subject, his authority is at least 
greatly impaired, if not wholly destroyed for the future, unless he is 
supported by other writers on whom dependence can be placed. His 
statements should at all events be received with nearly as much cau- 
tion and suspicion as those of the writer who has wilfully sophisticated 
the current of history. This idea, however extraordinary it may ap- 
pear at the first blush, stands on strong ground. The neglect, the 
carelessness, the want of proper industry in research, which have led 
us into error in one or two cases, may be fairly presumed to exist in 
others, and to produce the same effects again and again. 

Let us test these glowing descriptions of peace, prosperity, tolera- 
tion, and lenity of a government, under which " not a single man could 
say that he had suffered any prejudice or disturbance for his reli- 
gion." And I trust it will appear that the history of no age or coun- 
try was ever disgraced by a more atrocious falsehood. 

"In the beginning of king James's reign, the penal laws were put into execution 
against recusants — and indictments exhibited against them for not coming to 
church." — Cahtk, I. 140. 

1605. " A proclamation published commanding the Popish clergy to depart the 
ivingdom." — Wake, Gesta Hib. lib. 

Anno 1617, "A proclamation issued for banishing thePopish regular clergy." — 
Idem, 176. 

1622. " Several Popish magistrates who had refused the oath of supremacy 
contrary to the statute of 2 Eliz. chap. 1st, were censured in the star chamber ! 
when bishop Usher made a speech about the lawfulness of that oath." — Idem, 177. 

1623. " Issued out a proclamation requiring the Popish clergy, regular and 
secular, to depart the kingdom in forty days ! and forbidding all converse -with 
them after that time." — Hahbis, 329. 

1629. " In this year, the Roman clergy began to rant it, and to exercise their 
fancies called religion, so Y>^bVic\y as if they had gained a toleration : for whilst 
the lords justices were at Christ's church in Dublin, on St. Stephen's day, they 
■were celebrating mass in Cook street ; which their lordships taking notice of, 
they sent the archbishop of Dublin, the mayor, sheriff] and recorder of the city, 
with a file of musqueteers to apprehend them ; which they did, taking away the 
crucifixes and paraments of the altar ! ! the soldiers hewing down the image of 
St. Francis ! ! the priest and friars were delivered into the hands of the pursuivants, 
3t whom the people threw stones, and rescued them; the lords justices being 



CHAPTER XVIir. 197 

informed of this, sent a ^uard and delivered them, and clapped eight Popish alder- 
men by the heels, for not assisting the mayor ! ! On this occasion, fifteen houses, 
by direction of the lords of the council in England, were seized to the king's use ! ! ! ! 
and the priests and friars were so persecuted, that tivo of them hanged themselves 
in their oxvn defence." — Hammond L'Estrancje. 

" The lords justices s?nt the archbishop, the mayor, sheriff, and recorder of the 
city, to apprehend them, which they did ; taking away" [that is piratically plitn- 
deritig] " their crucifixes, chalices, and copes, and delivering the friars and priests 
into the hands of the pursuivants ! !" — Bakf.h, 469. 

" They ear7iestly entreated even a te7n/}orary relaxation of the penal statutes 
of Queen Elizabelli, declaring, that in this case, if the king should ask two, three 
or four subsidies, they doubted not of a chearful and zealous compliance. But their 
solicitations in parliament, and the practices of their agents in England, produced 
no other effect than a general, cautious and moderate execution of these statutes." — 
Lelanij, II. 536. 

" The governor and council began by enjoining the magistrates and chief citizens 
of Dublin to repair to the established churches. Repeated admonitions and con- 
ferences serve^ but to render them more obstinate. They ivere fined and committed 
to prison .' when in an instant, all the old English families of the Pale took the 
alarm, and boldly remonstrated against the severity of these proceedings. They de- 
nied the legality of the sentence by which these severities were inflicted, and urged, 
that by the act of the 2d of Elizabeth, the crime of recusancy had its punishment 
ascertained, and that any extension of thepenalty was illegal and unconstitutional." — 
Leland, II. 495. 

" JMagistrates and officers of justice -were strictly required to take the oath of 
supremacy ! and as the city of Waterford had obstinately chosen a succession of re- 
cusants for their chief magistrates, who all in turn refused to lake this oath, and in 
other particulars discovered an aversion to conformity ; a commission issued, to 
SEIZE THE LIBERTIES AND REVENUES of a city which had formerly and frequently 
been obnoxious to the state !" — Idem, 540. 

" The administration of the new governor, (St. John,) was disturbed by various 
clamours and discontents. By his conduct in the late parliament he appeared to 
be actuated with peculiar zeal against popery ! And whether provoked by the in- 
tolence of the recxisant party, or that his nature and principles disposed him to treat 
them with less lenity than they had for some time experienced, he soon proceeded 

TO A VIGOROUS EXECUTION OF THE PENAL STATUTES." LeLAND, II. 540. 

The most superficial reader must perceive, and the most higoted 
will not dare deny, that there are here most palpable contradictions — 
that there must be egregious errors on one side or the other — that if 
the statements of L'Estrange, Baker, Carte, Leland, Ware and Har- 
ris be true, Temple's, Lord Clarendon's, and Warner's must be ut- 
terly false. There is no other alternative. The assertion, that men 
who are " indicted for not going to a church^'' the doctrines of which 
they disapprove, and who, unless they take the oath of supremacy, 
which is a virtual renunciation of their religion, are expelled from 
the magistracy, heavily lined and thrown into prison ; have " suffered 
no prejudice on account of their religion," is a most barefaced and 
atrocious falsehood : and the assertion that those " enjoy the undis- 
turbed exercise of their religion,'''' whose worship is sacrilegiously 
violated in the face of day — whose chalices and crucifixes are feloni- 
ously purloined — whose altar and ornaments are hewed in pieces — 
whose priests are banished under severe penalties, in case of return — 
or dragged from the altar to prison in the midst of divine service — and 
whose churches, chapels, colleges, and convents, are seized, confis- 
cated, or razed to the ground — is such a monstrous violation of truth, 
as in any other case than the history of ill-fated Ireland, would destroy 
the credibility of the writers for ever. No language of reprobation can 
be too strong to brand those, how exalted soever their sphere of life, 



198 VINDICLE HIBERNIC.E. 

who lent their names to such scandalous deception on the world, in a 
case so very plain — so unsusceptible of mistake — a case involving the 
character of a nation, as well as the whole train of the eventful history 
of the succeeding half century. The history of the world, in the most 
fabulous era of its existence, can scarcely furnish a more miserable or 
desceptious literary fraud. 

I say distinctly " literary fraucV — for, with the exercise of the 
highest degree of charity which the case can require, it is impossible 
to believe that Temple or Clarendon could have been unacquainted 
with the circumstances stated by the other writers, and with the va- 
rious proclamations issued and enforced in Ireland, during their mille- 
nium of forty years, for the banisliment of the Catholic clergy, the sei- 
zure and confiscation of their churches, colleges, and convents — the 
prohibition of their teaching schools, &c. &c. From one of these pro- 
clamations, I annex a few extracts. 

Extracts from a Proclamation hy Lord Fcmlkland, Lord Deputy of Ireland, 
dated April 1st, 1629. 

" Forasmuch as we cannot but take notice, that the late intermission of legal 
proceedings against Popish pretended or titulary archbishops, bishops, abbots, deans, 
vicars-general, Jesuits, friars, and others of that sort, that derive their pretended 
authority and orders from the see of Rome, hath bred such an extraordinary inso- 
lence and presumption in them, as that tliey have dared of late not only to assemlile 
themselves t)i public places, to celebrate their superstitious sei^vices ill all parts of 
the kingdom ! ! ! but also have erected houses and buildings, called public oratories, 
colleges, mass-houses, and convents of friars, monks, and nuns, in the eye and open 
view of the state and elsewhere." * * * 

" These are therefore to will and require, and in his majesty's name straightly to 
charge and command all and all manner of such pretended or titulary archbishops, 
bishops, deans, vicars-general, archdeacons, and others, deriving any pretended 
authority, power, or jurisdiction, from the see of Rome, that they and every of them 
forbear from henceforth to exercise any such power, jurisdiction, or authority within 
this kingdom ; and that all such abbots, priors, Jesuits, friars, monks, nuns, and others 
of that sort as aforesaid, do forthwith break up their convents and assemblies, in all 
houses of friars, colleges, monasteries, and other places, wheresoever they are or shall 
be conventually or collegiately assembled together, within this kingdom, and to 
relinquish the same, and to disperse and separate themselves. 

" And that all and every of the orders before named, and other priests ■whatsoever', 
do from henceforth forbear to preach, teach, or celebrate their service, in any 
church, chapel, or other public oratory or place, or to teach any school, in any 
place or places whatsoever ivithin this kingdom ! ! ! 

" And we do further charge and command all and singular the owners of such 
houses of friars, colleges, monasteries, schools, oratories, mass-houses, and nunneries, 
that they, and every of them respectively, in default of the persons before-named, 
their voluntary relinquishing of the said houses of friars, colleges, monasteries, 
schools, oratories, mass-houses, and nunneries, do forthwith expel and thrust forth 
all and singular such friars, Jesuits, and other monastical persons, out of the same ; 
and do convert the same to more lawful uses, upon pain to have their said houses 
seized upon to his majesty's use ; and both the one and the other to be proceeded 
against for their itnlauful assemblies, and maintenance of such unla-uful conven- 
ticles and corrupt nurture of children, in the severest manner that by the laws and 
statutes of this kingdom, and ecclesiastical government of the same, may be had or 
extended!!! whereof they and every of them are to take notice, and to yield due 
obedience thereunto, as they and every of them will avoid his majesty's high indig- 
nation, and the consequence thereof." — Rushworth, II. 21. 

This proclamation goes the full length of suppressing /Ac /7ni/«c ex- 
ercise of Ihr liomon Catholic religion altogether : for their priests were 



CHAPTER XVIII. 199 

prohibited from " celebrating their service in any church, chapel, or 
other public oratory or place." 

And to aggravate the severity of this proceeding, the proclamation 
was calculated to barbarize the nation, by debarring the great body of 
them of education, and thus bringing them up in brutal ignorance. 
The priests, who were at that period almost the only schoolmasters 
in the kingdom, were prohibited from " teaching school, in any place 
or places whatsoever in the said kingdom." The mind siclcens in 
tracing such constant, unvarying scenes of rapine, wickedness, and 
tyranny, unrelieved by any thing that can afford consolation on reflex- 
ion, or redeem the character of the government from richly-earned 
execration. 

Extract of " a letter from the lord deputy Wentworth, to the lord primate 
and the rest of the commissioners for ecclesiastical causes, June 2, 1636. 
" Whereas the whole clergy of this kingdom, in convocation assembled, did pre- 
sent their humble petition, amongst other things, that all popish schoolmasters 
might be suppressed, that inquiry should be made by lit commissioners into the 
abuses of free schools, and to give speedy order for the reformation of them ; that 
whereas frequent burials in abbey's is an occasion of the great neglect and contempt 
of parish churches, and mainly prejudicial to the clergy, some good course might be 
taken to restrain that abuse by act of state ; we have thought fit not only to testify 
our approbation thereof, but also to desire you, as those to whose care it most par- 
ticularly belongs, to take the same into your serious consideration, and we do here- 
by require and authorize you to advise of some good means whereby tlie said abases 
may be prevented in future." — Stkaffoiid, II. 7. 

Dr. Leland, discussing the oppressions and penalties which the Ro- 
man Catholics suffered, reasons with great sang froid on the folly of 
their subjecting themselves to such disadvantages, and appears to be- 
lieve that there is no more difficulty in a change of religion, than in 
a change in the fashion of dress. He very philosophically states 
that 

" Men whose religious principles expose them to grievoiis disadvantages in so- 
ciety, are particularly bound to examine those principles with care and accuracy, 
lest they sacrifice the interests of themselves and their posterity to an illusion." — 
Lelastd, II. 517. 

This is miserable cant, which applies with equal force and propriety 
to the case of all persecutors, of all ages and every country. Dio- 
clesian, Nero, Mahomet, Lauderdale, or Dalhousie, might with equal 
propriety have held the same language to the unhappy objects on whom 
they wreaked their vengeance, as the Irish government. They might 
have said, while they were preparing their stakes and their flames, or 
about to shoot down their victims, " You ought to examine Avith care 
and accuracy those principles which expose you to grievous disadvan- 
tages, and not to sacrifice your own interests, and those of your pos- 
terity, to an illusion." The idea of an entire nation laying aside, as 
illusions, religious opinions imbibed in infancy, and a form of worship 
to which they had been accustomed through life, and the attachment to 
which " grew with their growth," woidd never have entered into the 
mind of any man who was not temporarily a dotard ; and whatever 
might have been the ordinary range of Dr. Leland's mind, he must at 
that moment have been in a state of dotage. 

In one of the preceding extracts from Leland, we are informed that 
the Roman Catholics " entreated for even a temporary relaxation of 
the penal lawn'''' — oflering, as a boon, "two, three, or even four subsi- 



200 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

dies." Yet this is during a period in which Clarendon and Warner 
both declare that no man could say that " he had suffered any prejudice 
or disturbance on account of his religion ! ! !" If the Catholics en- 
joyed the free exercise of their religion — if they suffered no "prejudice 
or disturbance on account of it," such an application was a workof ex- 
treme supererogation. But they were, forsooth, so prodigal of their 
wealth, that tliey were willing to lavish it most extravagantly for the 
removal of evils which did not exist! 

In the same spirit of delusion, he [Leland] states, that the result of 
their application was to produce "a general, cautious, and moderate 
execution of those statutes ! ! .'" 

We have seen how very "moderate and cautious" was the exe- 
cution of those statutes — that the Roman Catholics were subject to fre- 
quent indictments, enormous fines, to the seizure of their churches, to 
the banishment of their clergy, imprisonment, and exclusion from office ! 
This is what the veracious historian calls a " moderate execution of 
those statutes." 

It is impossible to read, without indignation, the manner in which 
the flagitious attack on the congregation in Cook-streei, the narrative 
of which is quoted above from L'Estrange, is noticed by Carte and 
Leland. The former states that — 

" The recusants took greater liberties, in contempt of tlie larus, than either the 
state could inJulge them with safety to lis reputation, or themselves, practise consist- 
ent with the rules of prudence. Not content with the enjoyment of their religion, 
the celebration of the mass, and the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in a private 
and modest way, in which they v/crc connived at by the government, t/iei/ ivoJild 
needs do all this in an open and public jnanner ! They frequented their religious 
meetings and masses as constantly and with as much confidence as the protcstants 
did their churches. And when the magistrates, offended with too open an insult to 
their authority, offered to apprehend the officiating priest, he was rescued by the 
multitude in a tumultuous manner even at Dublin, under the very nose of the gov- 
ernment, with horrid affronts to the archbishop and mayor of the city !" — Carte, 
I. 53. 

It is difficult to conceive of a stronger instance of historical chicane 
than is here displayed ; and it is a fair specimen, I once more repeat, 
of the manner in which Irish history is generally written. The enor- 
mities perpetrated on the Irish, however atrocious, are softened down 
or palliated in a silky, milky style, and most of them wholly omitted; 
while the magnifying powers of the microscope, or the inventive talents 
of Munchausen, are applied to depict the Irish as objects of abhorrence. 
Had the Roman Catholics been engaged in some dangerous conspiracy 
to subvert the government; or in the act of enlisting soldiers for that 
purpose; or had they in preparation some '•'■ infernal machine'''' to blow 
up the castle, it might be said, that '■'■they took greater liberties than 
the state could indulge them in.'''' But to use such language, to mark 
with reprobation the mere act of assembling peaceably to worship God 
in the manner practised in their country, and throughout the whole of 
Christendom, for ages, displays a most disgraceful illiberality : and to 
feign such strong sensibilities for the '•'■ horrid affronts,''^ put upon a 
mitred ricffian,^ who was resisted in a sacrilegious attack upon the 

* Tlie " tiorrid affront" on a mitred ruffian. This style of expression towards 
so elevated a character as an archbishop, will offend the eyes and ears of some delicate 
readers, who will regard it as shocking and indecorous. But I liavc not lightly 



CHAPTER XVIII. 201 

altars of the Living God, is inexpressibly disgusting; and in any inde- 
pendent court of literature, would be sufficient to have the writer ex- 
pelled from the honourable corps of historians. 

Leland informs us, that " the incident,'" (that is, the attack on the 
priest, the altar, and the congregation, and the resistance on the part of 
the Catholics!!) "was represented in England in the most oftensive 
manner, and seeined to reproach that mistaken, lenity ! ! which had 
encouraged the recusants to this outrage;'''' that is, gentle reader, "the 
outrage" of repelling a savage assault, which would have disgraced a 
gang of Algerines or Ostrogoths, " It was deemed neither safe nor 
politic to connive at such insolence! ! By an order of the English 
covLWcW, fifteen religious houses rv ere seized to the king's use: and 
the popish college, erected in Dublin, ivas assigned to the university, 
which for the present converted it into a prolestant seminary. ''' — Le- 
land, IIL 8. 

Such is the miserable manner in which the hotch potch, palmed on 
the world as history, is written — such the statement of a piratical de- 
predation on private property, worthy of a gang of New Zealanders. 
An outrage which imperiously required the most glowing language of 
abhorrence and reprobation, that could flow from the pen of a Tacitus, 
a Juvenal, or a Junius, is not merely glossed over as pardonable, but 
apparently commended as meritorious: and those in whose persons 
the most sacred rights are violated, and who are rapaciously despoiled 
of their altars and their temples, are held up to reprobation as crimi- 
nals ; and this by writers who undeservedly enjoy a high degree of 
reputation ! 

Suppose that we admit for a moment, (and the admission must be 
but momentary,) that a paltry minority of a nation, two-thirteenths of 
the entire population,* have a right to proscribe tlie great majority from 
any particular form of worship; to inflict penalties on its exercise ; and 
to dictate any other that may seem meet to them ; suppose that the 
worship practised at the chapel were manifestly illegal ; or even sup- 
pose it were absolutely impious and idolatrous; and that, instead of 
worshipping the Living God, they were actually worshipping idols, the 

adopted it. I have well weighed the matter, before I determined to use it ; and, in- 
stead of any apology, make no scruple to avow, that did the English language afford 
terms of reprobation stronger and more significant, but not scurrilous, I should have 
used them. If an archbishop, a governor, a king, or an emperor, be not asharned to 
act like a ruffian ! ought we to be either afraid or ashamed to style him " a ruffian V 
Whatever scruples others may have on this subject, I have none. I have called and 
shall continue to call, throughout this work, men and things by their proper names, 
regardless of titles or dignities : and, believing that the crime here perpetrated was 
only second to murder, and that none but a ruffian would contemplate, none but a 
ruffian order, and none but a ruffian undertake its commission, I unhesitatingly 
incur the responsibility of designating it by its peculiarly appropriate phrase. In- 
deed, the higher, the more exalted the perpetrator, the more Justice and propriety 
there is in marking the deed with the strongest language. Can any terms be too 
strong to stamp the guilt of a minister of the Living God, heading a furious mob to 
destroy the altars of that Living God? "A ruffian," according to Sheridan, 
is "a bi-utal, boisterous, mischievous fello^v /" And would any but a most 
" brutal, boisterous, mischievous fellotv," head a licentious band of mercenary 
soldiers, in an attack upon an unarmed and defenceless body of men, ivnmen, and 
children, whose only crime was the solemn act of worshipping the Living God, or 
deface and destroy his altars, &.\iA purloin the ornaments consecrated to his worship \ 
* "Before the war, the proportion was as two to eleven." — Pettt, 812. 

3fi 



202 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE. 

work of men's hands, that " have eyes and see not, ears and hear not." 
Can there, even under all these inadmissible suppositions, be a shadow 
of defence pretended for the choice of the time, the place, and the man- 
ner of perpetrating this abominable act of violence ? There was 
probably no other country under the canopy of heaven, but Ireland, 
where such odious sacrilege would have been perpetrated, or allowed to 
pass with impunity, under the auspices and by the direction of the 
government. 

The intent of this base procedure is unambiguous : it speaks its true 
character clearly and unequivocally. It was an effort to provoke the 
wretched people to insurrection, in order to reneiv again the scenes of 
confiscation and proscription, ivhich fill the sickening and heart-rend- 
ing pages of the history of that ill-fated country. If this had not been 
the intention^ the government would have let the woiship pass over; 
waited till next day; and then proceeded against the ^'■idolatrous 
papists,'''' in due course of the '■'^mild laws of the country.'''' 

When the intelligence reached the court of king Charles, instead of 
recalling the justices, who had abused their trust, by promulgating 
such orders, and punishing the perpetrators of tlie outrage, he issued a 
proclamation, whereby he became particeps criminis ; and, to punish 
the outraged people for the guilt of their oppressors, ordered the chapel 
where the sacrilege had been perpetrated, to be razed to the ground, 
and the oppressed Catholics to be robbed of various others of their 
places of worship ! .'* 

* Extracts from a Letter to the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland, dated 
January 31, 1629. 

"By your letters, we understand how the seditious riot, moved by the friars and 
their adherents at Dublin, hath by your good order and resolution been iiappily sup- 
pressed. And we doubt not but by this occasion you will consider how much it 
concerneth the good government of that kingdom, to prevent in time the first grow- 
ing of such evils : for where such people are permitted to swarm, they will soon make 
their hives, and then endure no government but their own, which cannot otherwise 
be restrained, than by a due and seasonable exec^ition of the laws, and such di- 
rections as from time to time have been sent from his majesty and this board." * * * 

" And such magistrates or officers, if any shall be discovei-cd, that openly or un- 
derhand favour such disorders, or do not their duties in suppressing them, and 
punishing the oitenders, you shall do well to take all fit and safe advantages, by the 
punishment or displacing of afeiv, to make the rest more cautious. This we write 
not as misliking the fair course you have taken ; but to express the concurrence of 
our judgment with yours, and to assure you of our assistauce on all such occasions, 
wherein for your further proceeding we have advised, and his majesty requireth you 
accordingly to take order, first, that tue house where so many rniARS appeared 
IN THEIR HABITS, and wherein tlie reverend arclibishop and the mayor of Dtiblin 
received their first affront, be speedily demolished, and be a mark of terror to 
the resistors of authority ; and that tlie rest of the houses erected or employed there 
or elsewliere in Ireland, to tlie use of svperstitions societies, be converted into 
houses of correction, and to set idle people on work, or to other public uses, for the 
advancement of justice, good art, or trade. 

" And further, that you use all fit means to discover the founders, benefactors, 
and maintainors of such societies and colleges, and certify us their names. And 
that you find out the lands, leases, rents, or revenues applied to their uses, and 
dispose thereof according to the laxv. And that you certify also the places and 
institutions of all such monasteries, priories, nunneries, and other religious houses, 
and the names of all such persons as have put themselves to be brothers or sisters 



CHAPTER XVIII. 203 

It may be thought impossible to add to the atrocity of this procedure, 
ftit this is an egregious error. Did not Edmund Burke pronounce a 
celebrated bull, that " in the lowest deep there teas still a lower?"" — or 
something to that effect. This was the case here, as will appear from 
these facts. The parliament, called to ratiiy the miscalled " graces," 
which were to remove the grievances and tranquillize the minds of the 
Irish, was to have met in Nov. 1628, but was defeated by the fraud 
and chicane of the English government and Lord Faulkland, as may- 
be seen in page 144. But the piratical, ferocious, rapacious and sacri- 
legious order above alluded to was issued in Jan. 1629, only two 
months after the solemn contract with Charles I. was to have been 
ratified, for which 270,000/. were paid, or secured to be paid. Let us 
no longer prate about the '■'■ piinicajides.^' 

When such ruffian violence was perpetrated by a grand dignitary of 
the church, in the capital, by order of those who held the reins of 
government, and afterwards received the marked approbation of the 
British administration, it is easy to conceive to what extent the ex- 
ample must have been followed throughout the kingdom ; how de- 
plorable the situation of the Catholics ; what a wretched chance of 
redress they had for any wrong or violence perpetrated on them ; and 
what a loathsome tissue of fables, every man, not destitute of truth, 
honour, honesty, or candour, must pronounce those histories, which, 
for the most sinister purposes, boldly state the gross, the palpable 
falsehood, that " the whole nation," for forty years, previous to 1641, 
'' enjoyed the undisturbed exercise of their religion: and even in 
Dublin, where the scat of the king'' s chief governor was, they went 
as publicly and as uninterruptedly to their devotions, as he went to 
his.''^ [Clarendon's Ireland, 8.] This falsehood is destitute of the 
slightest defence or extenuation. It is not on an abstruse, doubtful, or 
contested point, where, even with the best intentions, error is not 
easily avoided, and whe'-e, of course, error is pardonable. It respects 
facts of the utmost notoriety, to be found by the most cursory glance 
on the very surface of history : and I repeat, it cannot for a moment 
be doubted, that Lord Clarendon, when he lent the weight of his name 
to the story, and committed this sweeping declaration to paper, must 
have known that he was making an assertion utterly destitute of 
foundation, to blacken the already-too-much-defamed character of the 
persecuted, oppressed, and pillaged Roman Catholics : for it was 
utterly impossible for him to be so conversant with public affairs, or 
to have read history as he must have done, without being thoroughly 
acquainted with the infinite variety of pains, penalties, and disqualifi- 
cations, under which the Roman Catholics laboured in both king- 

— ...HO @ ©^<l»— 

therein, especially such as are of note, to the end such evil plants be not permitted 
any more to take root in that kingdom, which we require you to take care of. 
Lord Keeper, Earl of Salisbury, 

Lord Treasurer, Earl of Kelley, 

Lord President, Lord Viscount Dorchester, 

Lord Privy Seal, Lord Newburgh, 

Lord High Chamberlain, Mr. Vice Chancellor, 

Earl of Suffolk, Mr, Secretary Cook, 

Earl of Dorset, Sir W^illiam Alexander."* 

* Rushworth, II. 33. 



204 VINDICIJD HIBERNIC^. 

doms ; and which were as utterly incompatible with the picture he 
drew, as light and darkness, heal and cold, vice and virtue, are incor»' 
patible with each other. 

L'Estrange is disposed to be witty on this subject. He states, that 
" the priests and friars were so persecuted, that two of them hanged 
themselves, in their own defence.'''' This is truly a novel mode of 
" self-defence.'''' It is, however, far more probable, and almost certain, 
that sonie bloodthirsty and fanatical ruffians, inspired by " a holy ab- 
horrence'''' of the " superstitious idolatries and abominations of popery," 
and availing themselves of the infuriated spirit of the government, 
seized these unfortunate men privately, and hanged them up, without 
judge or jury. Of the sanguinary spirit of mobs and factions, when 
merely connived at by the constituted authorities, and still more when 
countenanced and excited by them, the world has had many calamitous 
instances, in ancient and modern times ; among which the Roman 
proscriptions, and the Parisian Septembrization, stand pre-eminent. 
But whether those priests died by suicide or murder, is of little impor- 
tance here : in either case it proves the llagitious persecution of a peo- 
ple, of whom, I beg leave once more to repeat, Lord Clarendon and 
Warner made the extravagant declaration, that " no man could say that 
he had suffered prejudice or disturbance on account of his religion ! ! !" 

James I., previous to his accession to the throne of England, had 
held out in his correspondence Avith the Catholic princes, in order to 
propitiate them in his favour, that he would relax somewhat of the 
rigour of the penal code against the Irish Roman Catholics,* who, 
shortly after his coronation, sent a deputation to London, to lay their 
grievances before him, and solicit some indulgence. Sir James Gough, 
one of the number, on his return to Dublin, announced that the mission 
had been successful; " that tbe agents had been graciously received by 
the king; and that at his departure his majesty had commanded him to 
publish in all places of the realm, that he would not force their con- 
sciences, nor hinder them from keeping priests in their houses, so as 
they entertained none of those who maintain that the pope had power 
to depose or excommunicate his majesty." [Carte, I. 21.] " This," 
says Carte, " being contrary to the king's solemn declaration in 
JEngland, tliat he would never grant any toleration to the Boman 
Catholics, and entailing a curse on his posterity if they granted any, 
and contrary likewise to the instiuctions and directions the state had 
received from the king, for ministering the oath of supremacy to the 
lawyers and justices of the peace, and for putting the laws against re- 
cusants in execution, the deputy reproved him for publishing so appa- 

— ....►e ® 9nv- — 

• Some few years before queen Elizabeth's death, " king James was at the utmost 
pains to gain the friendship of the Konian Catholic Princes, as a necessary precaution 
to facilitate his accession to the English throne. Lord Home, who was himself a 
Papist, was entrusted with a secret commission to the Pope. The archbishop of 
Glasgow was an active instrument with those of his own religion. The Pope ex- 
pressed such favourable sentiments both of the king and of his right to the crown of 
Enf'land, that James thought himself bound some years after to acknowledge the 
obligation in a public manner. Sir James Lindsey made great progress in gaining 
the English Papists to acknowledge his majesty's title." — Uobehston, VII. 240. 

" It is certain that the promise king James made to Roman Catholics, was regis- 
tered, and amounted so high at least as to a toleration of their religion." — Osborne, 
apud CuuRT, I. 58. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 205 

rent an untruth, and told him he did not believe him. But Gough con- 
tinuing with arrogance to justify the message, the lord deputy thought 
it necessary to exercise a loholesome and seasonable severity upon 
him.^' [Ibid. 3 Carte does not inform us what this "wholesome and 
seasonable severity" was; but we learn from Leland, that the " deputy 
committed Sir James Gough close prisoner to the castle of Dublin." 
— Leland, II. 530. 

In 1627, the affairs of Charles 1. were in a most deranged state. He 
was engaged in a war with France, deeply in debt, and much distressed 
for resources, which he could not prevail on Parliament to afford. In 
this emergency, the Irish Roman Catholics offered to support constantly 
five thousand foot and five hundred horse,* provided they were in- 
dulged ivith a mere toleration of their religion, and some other favours 
of minor importance. f 

This proposition, made at a time when, we are told, that the " Ca- 
tholics enjoyed the undisturbed exercise of their religion," excited as 
much alai-m and opposition as if the Protestant religion was about to 
be suppressed by act of parliament. The archbishop of Armagh, the 
celebrated Usher, and all the other dignified clergy of the established 
church, with a most miserable spirit of bigotry and intolerance, worthy 
of that persecuting and fanatical age, but disgraceful to the actors, en- 
tered a most solemn protest| against the measure, as " an abomination 
and toleration of idolatry ; and as being accessary to the perdition of 
the seduced people who perish in the deluge of the Catholic apostacy T' 

—...»»»©&«<. — 

* " Towards the end of the Lord Faulkland's government, (there being great need 
of money for support of the standing army in Ireland, and maintaining of 500 horse 
and 5000 foot; mucli by extraordinary means having been otherwise disposed,) the 
Catholics of Ireland, (glad of the occasion,) seemed very forward to supply the state, 
in hopes of a connivance, (if not a toleration,) of their religion." — BonLASE, 1. 

j" " The toleration they desired," according to Curry, " was no more than some 
respite from the oppressions and extortions of the ecclesiastical courts ; and to have 
all proceedings against them in those courts, for religion, suspended ; to he released 
from those exorbitant sums which they were obliged to pay for their christenings 
and marriages ; and particularly to have the extravagant surplice fees of the clergy, 
and the extraordinary warrants for levying them, abolished." — Cuhrt, I. 109. 

t " The religion of the papists is snpersiitioits and idolatrous ; their faith and 
doctrine enormous and heretical ; their church, in respect to both, apostatical. To 
give them, therefore, a toleration, or to consent that they may freely exercise their 
religion, and profess their faith and doctrine, is a grievous sin, and that in two 
respects ; for first it is to make ourselves accessary not only to their siiperstitiotts 
idolatries and heresies, and in a word to all the abominations of popery, but also, 
(which is a consequent of the former,) to tJie perdition of tlie seduced people xvliich 
perish in tlie deluge oftlie Catholic apostacy ; secondly, to grant them a toleration 
in respect of any money to be given or contribution to be made by them, is to set 
religion to sale, and -with it tlie souls of tlie people, xvliom C'firist Iiatli redeemed 
■with /lis blood. And as it is a great sin, so it is also a matter of most dangerous 
consequence, the consideration whereof wo commit to the wise and judicious, be- 
seeching the God of Truth to make them who arc in authority, zealous of God's 
glory, and of the advancement of true religion ; zealous, resolute, and courageous 
against alt popery, superstition, and idolatry. 

James Armachanus, Andrew Alackdens, 

Mai. Casellen, Tho. Kilmore and Ardagh, 

Anthony Medcnsis, Theo. Dromore, 

Tho. Fern, and Leghlin, Mic. Waterford and Lismore, 

Robert Dunensis, Fra. Limerick.f 

Richard Corke, 

t Rush worth, II. 22. 



206 A^NDICLE HIBERNIC.E. 

Among the grievances of the nation, the House of Commons in tlic 
year 1640, remonstrated, in a memorial "to the lord deputy against 
the fees and proceedings of ecclesiastical courts* and employment of 
commutation money, and against the dues and demands of the Pro- 
testant clergy for christenings, marriages, burials, breaking of ground 
in churches, hearse-cloths, mortuaries and otlier customs ; some of 
which, as St. Patrick's ridges, soul-money, anointing muttons, holy- 
water clerk, and Mary-gallons, had been in many places introduced in 
the times of popery, and were by custom raised into a constant 
revenue." — Carte, I. 101. 

I now quit this odious i)art of a most odious subject, and feel con- 
fident that I liave proved to the complete satisfaction of every candid 
reader, notwithstanding the unqualitied assertions to the contrary, of 
writers who are regarded as high authority, that the Roman Catholics 
of Ireland, during the whole period of forty years which preceded the 
insurrection of 1641, were exposed to a persecution of the most ran- 
corous character. It had begun under Elizabeth, and was continued 
from the accession of James to the throne, and, with slight and unim- 
portant intermissions, through his reign and that of his successor. The 
facts are established by authentic public documents, and by the testi- 
mony of English and Protestant writers generally labouring under a 
strong bias against the Roman Catholics. We have seen in a public 
proclamation that '■'■ the assembling in public places to celebrate their 
superstitions worship,''^ was considered as such " insolence and pre- 
sumption in them," [supra, 202,3 ^^ ^^ ^^^^ down upon tliem the ven- 
geance of the government, which dispatched a file of soldiers to destroy 
their altars and seize their priests in the time of divine worship. They 

— .•►►>©© s>+«*. — 

• The annexed extracts from " the humble remonstrance of the knights, citizens, 
and burgesses of the house of commons in parHament assembled" in 1640, referred 
to in the text by Carte, sheds further light on " the undisturbed exercise of their re- 
ligion," enjoyed by the Irish Roman Catholics, for '^furty years" before 1641. 
" To the lord deputy, 

" They humbly represent unto your lordship, that divers complaints have been re- 
ferred to them by sundry persons, from several parts of this kingdom, of many griev- 
ous exactions, pressures and other vexatious proceedings, of some of th* clergy of 
this kingdom, and their officers and ministers, against the laity, and especially the 
poorer sort, to the great impoverishment and general detriment of the whole king- 
dom ; which the said house of commons, after many debates thereof, having taken 
into serious consideration, it was conceived by the unanimous votes of the house, 
that all of them were very great and enormous grievances. Some whereof, being 
most exorbitant and barbarous, they were of opinion ought to be quite abolished, 
b'eing repugnant to law and reason ; and the rest to be reformed, &c." — Commons' 
Journal, I. 158. 

" Great sums of money received by several bishops of this kingdom for commuta- 
tion of penance ; which money, by his majesty's instructions, should be converted to 
pious uses; not observed, but made a private profit " — Ibid. 261. 

" In Connaught and elsewhere, six pence per annum of every couple, (holy-water 
clerk;) of every man that dies, a miittus, by the name oi anointing-muney ; from a 
poor man that has but one cow, they take that for mortuary: fro/n one that is better 
able, his best garment for mortuary. If a woman, her best garment for mortuary : 
and a gallon of drink for every brewing, by the name of mary-gallons : for every 
beef that is killed for the funeral of any man, the hide and tallow, and they chal- 
lenged a quarter besides: four pence or six pence per annum from every parishioner, 
for soul-money : a ridge of winter-corn and a ridge of oats for every plough, by the 
name of i^;. Patriclcs ridges: ior porfioii-canons, the tenth part of the goods, after 
debts paid, &c."—Ibid. 260. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 207 

were, moreover, subject to the most grievous exactions and oppression 
in the ecclesiastical courts,* before which they were cited on the most 
frivolous pretexts. The declaration, therefore, that " no man could 
say he had suffered prejudice or disturbance on account of his religion," 
is not only not true, but directly the reverse of truth. 

—•»•►>■© @ ©4+w — t 

• The following affecting picture of the vexatious oppressions and grinding in- 
justice of the ecclesiastical courts in Ireland, drawn by IBishop Burnet, in his Life of 
Bishop Bedell, is beyond the reach of suspicion, and places in strong relief, the de- 
ceptious statements of the tranquillity and happiness enjoyed by the Irish, as stated 
by Temple, Clarendon, Carte, and Warner. Those courts pervaded every part of 
the kingdom. No man was so high or so low as to escape the fangs of their 
officers. 

" The officers of the court made it their business to draw people into trouble by 
vexatious suits, and to hold them so long in it that for three pence worth of the tithe 
of turf, they would be put to five pounds charge. And the solemnest and sacredest 
of all the church censures, which was excommunication, went about in so sordid and 
base a manner, that all regard to it, as it was a spiritual censure, was lost, and the 
effects it had in law made it be cried out on as a most intolerable piece of tyranny. 
7'Ae officers of the court thovght they had a sort of right to oppress the natives, 
and that all ivas well got, that was -wrung from them" — Life of Bedell, 89. 



308 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Fallacious and. fraudulent statement of the security of property in 
Ireland for forty years previous to the insurrection. IVholesale 
plunder, unrestrained by any scruples of honour, honesty, or 
justice. Pimps, spies, and informers. Court of wards. 

I WILL not allow myself to doubt for a moment, that the strong irre- 
fragable facts I have adduced to prove the barbarous persecution suf- 
fered by the Roman Catholics, during the millenium, on which 
Clarendon, Temple and Warner dwell in such glowing terms, is a 
day-dream, and so far as the two first are concerned, blasts their repu- 
tation for veracity, I draw a pointed line of distinction between them 
and Warner. Each of those might say with iEneas — 

" Omnia qux vidi, 
Et giiormn pars magna fiii." 

Neither Temple nor Clarendon could possibly be ignorant of the real 
state of the case, of which they drew such a false picture ; whereas 
Warner was probably led astray by his dependence on the authority of 
Clarendon — a deceptions guide. 

I now proceed to prove that the statements respecting the security of 
property during the forty years previous to the insurrection, are equally 
and as atrociously false as those respecting the i-eligious toleration re- 
ferred to, and refuted in the preceding Chapter. 

"The two nations had now lived together forty years in peace, with great 
security and comfort, which had in a manner consolidated them into one body, knit 
and compacted together with all those bonds and ligatures of friendship, alliance, 
and consanguinity, as might make up a constant and perpetual union betwixt them." 
— Temple, 15. 

" Whatsoever their land, or labour, or industry produced, was their own, being not 
only free from having it taken from them by the king upon any pretence what- 
soever, without their consent, but also secured against," &c. — Clakendon's Ire- 
land, p. 7. 

"In this blessed condition of peace and security, ih&YlngWsb. and Irish, the 
Protestants and Catholics, lived mingled together, in all the provinces of the kingdom, 
quietly trafficking with one another, during tfie ivholc happy reign of James .' and 
from his death, every degree of their happiness was increased and improved under 
the government of his late majesty." — Idem, page 8. 

" The papists had for many years enjoyed a great calm, being upon the matter 
absolved from the severest parts of the law, and dispensed with for the gentlest; 
arid ivere grown only a part of the revenue, without any probable danger of being 
made a sacrifice to the law." — d-AitENDON's England, I. 116. 

" A few interruptions and murmurings in some particular places notwithstand- 
ing almost FOBTY YEARS had pusscd a-zvay in the greatest calm and felicity ! ! .' 
that the inhabitants of Ireland had ever before enjoyed.* The great increase of 

— i.v»e ©©«••— 

* " In the greatest calm and j'elicily," &c. This flattering statement might be 
strictly true, and yet not go far to prove what was intended. Ireland having, from 
the date of the invasion of Henry II. been an almost uninterrupted scene of warfare, 
oppression, rapine, and confiscation, this period of " greatest calm and tranquillity" 



CHAPTER XIX. 209 

commerce, the improvement of land, and the ornament and advantages of public 
buildings, had given a new face to the country. Whatsoever their skill and indus~ 
try produced became their o-wn ; being not only free from fear of having it taken 
from them by the govermnent, npon any pretence -without their consent ! ! hut 
being also secured against theft and robbery, by just execution of salutary and useful 
laws." — Waiixer, 1. 

" In this happy situation of affairs ivhen the national grievances -were redressed, 
and a general composure and serenity was established throughout the kingdoni ; 
nothing to fear from the administration, and no animosity as to interest or religion 
appearing to subsist among them, without the least pretence of a quarrel, or the ap- 
prehension of any hostility by the Protestants," &c. — Warner, 6. 

On the subject of security of property, I might refer to the contents 
of Chapter XI. wherein is detailed the royal rapine of James I. in Ul- 
ster and Leinster, amounting- to 885,000 acres, about a twentieth part 
of the kingdom, and the piratical career of Lord Strafford in Connaught 
to a still greater amount, which alone would disprove the " flattering 
tale" and show how diametrically opposite it is to the truth.* But 
the subject is of too much importance to be dismissed without further 
proof. For shocking as were those proceedings, and rapacious as was 
the monarch by whom they were perpetrated, the sufferings and spo- 
liations experienced by the Irish, from individual rapacity, far exceeded 
them in the wide scope they embraced, which was the whole extent 
of the kingdom, 

1 have asserted that this system of rapine was more oppressive than 
that of James. A moment's reflection will satisfy every reader on this 
point. That miserable king only spoliated a twentieth part of the 
island; whereas the informers harassed, tricked, and preyed upon the 
inhabitants of the greatest part of the remaining nineteen-twentieths. 
Carte, whose testimony on this point will not be questioned, informs 



might be, as it actually was, a period of great suflering and oppression. Sometimes 
the comparative or even the superlative degree of comparison is not so expressive as 
a simple positive. A man may be the best of his family, and yet be far from good. 
* " They who were too poor or too spiritless to engage in distant adventures, courted 
fortune in Ireland. Under pretence of improving the king's revenue in a country 
where it was far less than the charge of government, they obtained commissions of 
inqtiiry into defective titles, and grants of concealed lands and rents belonging to 
the crown ! ! the great benefit of which was generally to accrue to the projector, 
whilst the kin? had but an inconsiderable proportion of the concealment, or a 
small advance of rent. Discoverers were every where busily employed m 

FINDING OUT FLAWS IN MEn's TITLES TO THEIR ESTATES ! ! The old pjpe-rolls 

were searched, to find the original rents with which they had been charged. The 
patent rolls, in the tower of London, were ransacked for the ancient grants. JVo 
means of industry, or devices of craft, -were left untried, to force the possessors to 
accept of 7i.exv grajits at an advanced rent. In general, men were either conscious 
of the defects in their titles, or alarmed at tlie trouble find expence of (i contest with 
the cro-ivn; or fearful of the issue of suc/i u contest, at a time, and in a country, 
where the prerogative was highly strained, and strenuously supported by the 
judges. These inquiries, therefore, commonly ended in a new composition, made 
at as cheap a rate, and as easy an advance of rent, as the possessors could obtain." 
— Leland, TI. 549. 

"In several ancient grants, there had been a resen/ation of rents to the crown. 
During long intervals of commotion, the king's revenue had not been, nor could be, 
regularly collected ; nor had such rents been put in charge, by his officerSj for ages. 
..Acquittances -were now demanded. It was impossihle to produce them ; and 
the failure to produce them was pleaded as sufficient to overthrow thk lAiRRsif 
titles." — Ide}n,-5i3. 

27 



210 VINDICLE HIBERNICiE. 

us, ♦' there were few gentlemen in the kingdom, who had not been, 
gome time or other, questioned for their title, or disturbed in the 
possession of their estates." — Carte, I. 60. 

This is perfectly natural ; and what might have been inferred from 
the proceedings of the rulers, even were history silent on the subject. 
The experience of the world proves, that severe laws and good go- 
vernment too often fail to repress fraud and violence, even when cor- 
poral punishments and penalties are held out in tcrrorem, to awe of- 
fenders. But, we repeat, when a government becomes a plunderer on 
a huge scale, and sets the alluring example of spoliation ; when it 
violates, in the most profligate manner, the rights of property, held by 
regular descent, for ages; when, with sacrilegious hand, it tears down 
the barriers erected by law, honour, honesty, and justice; but, more 
particularly than all the rest, when it divides a nation into two castes, 
and prostrates one, tied neck and heels, at the feet of the other, 
as the Helots were at the feet of the Spartans, — the native Irish, pre- 
vious to the reformation, at those of the successive swarms of needy 
English adventurers, who migrated thither for the purpose of " repair- 
ing their shattered fortunes," — and, subsequent to the reformation, the 
Roman Catholics at the feet of the miserable oligarchy styling itself 
" the Protestant ascendency ;" what can be the result of such a state 
of things, but that the favoured caste will be base, corrupt, unjust, and 
tyrannical ; and violate, as ihey generally may with impunity, every 
law of God and man, to the oppression of the degraded caste ? and 
that the latter forlorn description will be abject, timid, crouching, 
and forced to submit to every indignity, insult, and depredation,* or, 
if they resist, be crushed, with added weight, to their previous suf- 
ferings, 

" The commissioners appointed to distribute the lands, scandalously abused their 
trusts, and by fraud oi- violence deprived the natives of those possessions, which 
the king had reserved for them. Some, indeed, were sneered to enjoy a small 
pittance of such reservation ; others -were totally ejected." — Lr-tAT<i),II. 516. 

" There are not wanting proofs of the most iniquitous practices, of hardened 
cruelty, of vile perjury, and scandalous subornation, employed to despoil the fair 
arid unoffendir.g proprietor of his inheritance." — Lklaxd, II. .549. 

" Tliey luere still exposed to vexatious inquisitions into tlie titles of tlieir estates, 

• Among the grievances which arc so pathetically enumerated in the Remon- 
strance of the Catholics of Ireland, agreed upon, March 17, 1642, the following is 
subjoined to the subject of the present chapter, and is confirmed by the preceding 
extract from Leland: "The procuiing of false inquisitions upon feigned titles of 
their estates, against many hundred years^ possession, and no traverse or petition 
of right admitted thereunto!.! !! ! ami Jurors, denying to find such offices, ivere 
censured even to public infamy and ruin of tlieir estates ; the finding thereof being 
against their consciences and their evidences : and nothing must stand against such 
offices taken of great and considerable parts of the kingdom, but letters patents un- 
der the great seal : and if letters patents were produced, (as in most cases they were,) 
none must be allowed valid, nor yet sought to be legally avoided : so that of late times 
by the underhand working of Sir William Parsons, knight, now one of the lords 
justices here, and the arbitrary illegal power the two impeached judges in Parlia- 
ment, and others drawn in by their advice and counsel, one Iinndred and fifty let- 
ters patents were avoided in one morning- ! which course continued until all the 
patents of the kingdom, to a few, were by them and their associates declared void." 
—Carte, III. 137, 



CHAPTER XIX. 211 

an(J Were impatient to be freed from the apprehensioriB of litigious suits. The 
popish party were not more solicitous for the interest of their religion, than to ex- 
tricate themselvea fro)n the disadvantages and mortijications to -which they -were 
exposed by the penal statutes." — Iilcm, 561. 

" Adventurers were encouraged by the numerous donations of estates, and the 
ease with -which ajjiuent fortunes -were obtained in Ivelund. They ransacked old 
rfecords, they detected such concealments; were countenanced by the state; they 
dispossessed the old inhabitants, or obliged them to compound for their intrusion ; 
they were vested with portions of their lands, or otherwise rewarded." — Idem, 515. 

" The interested assiduity of the king's creatures in scrutinizing the titles of those 
lands, which had not yet been found for, or acknowledged to belong to, the crown, 
was, if possible, still more detestable." — Idem, 547. 

" The revival of obsolete claims of the crown, harassing of proprietors by fictions 
of law, dispossessing them by fraud and circumvention, and all the various arti- 
fices of interested agents and ministers, were naturally irritating ; and the public 
discontents must have been further inflamed by the insincerity of Charles, in 
evading the confirmation of his graces ; the insolence of Straflbrd in openly re- 
fusing it ; together with the nature and manner of his proceedings against the 
proprietors of Connaught." — Leland, III. 102. 

" Where no grant appeared, or no descent or conveyance in pursuance of it could 
be proved, the land ivas immediately adjudged to belong to the croivn. AH grants 
of the crown from the first year of Edward the Second, to the tenth of Henry the 
Seventh, had been resumed by parliament ! ! and the lands of all absentees, and of 
all that had been expelled by the Irish, were, by various acts, again vested in the 
crown, -widch impeached almost every grant oj" lands antecedent to that period ! ! ! 
Nor mn later ghaxts afpord a full security ! !*** Thus -was every mail's en- 
joyment of his possessions precarious and disputable at a time -when commissioners 
-were awarded to enquire by -what title he enjoyed them." — Leland, II. 547. 

The land was covered with hosts of pimps, spies, and informers, 
whose eternal employment was finding flaws in the titles of gentle- 
men's estates, and, if possible, ejecting them, in which they were con- 
stantly countenanced by government; or, if they failed in this part of 
the project, forcing them to ruinous compositions. 

Such was the hideous picture exhibited in Ireland, during that pe- 
riod, which the world, deluded by dishonest writers, of great but un- 
deserved celebrity, has been universally led to regard as a " blessed 
condition of peace and security.'''' 

Can the history of the world produce, in a state of peace, such a 
hideous order of things elsewhere ? An entire nation divided into 
two classes, plunderers and plundered, — spies and informers, and 
victims of their malice and avarice ! What scenes of distress and 
wretchedness, what instances of rapine, what fraud, what trick, what 
chicane, what forgery, what perjury, must have taken place in such a 
state of society; when the baleful race of informers and " discoverers 
were every V)here busily employed in finding out /laws in men's titles 
to their estates J" And this in Lord Clarendon's millenium ! when 
" whatsoever their land, labour, or industry produced was their 
own !" [Supra, page 48.] 

Fastidious readers will murmur at tlie constant repetition of the de- 
velopment of the errors of Lord Clarendon, which occurs in this work. 
But what is to be done in such a case ? If fraud, falsehood, and im- 
posture, every step we take, cross our path, must we pass them over 
unnoticed, from deference to that fastidiousness, which, while it sub- 
mits cheerfully to the eternal repetition of falsehood, affects to be 
shocked at the repetition of its detection ? 

To place more clearly before the eyes of the reader the lawless na- 
ture of the measures adopted to dispossess and plunder the Irish, I an- 



'212 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

nex from Carle the case of a family* persecuted by Sir William Par- 

* " One case in truth was very extraordinary, and contains in it such a scen6 
of iniquity and cruelty, that, considered in all its circumstances, it is scarce to be 
paralleled in the history of any age or any country. Pheagh Mac Hugh Byrne, 
lord of the Byrnes territory, now called the Ranelagh, in the county of Wicklow, 
being killed in arms, towards the latter end of the reign of queen Elizabeth, she, by 
her letters to lioftus and Gardiner, then lords justices, directed letters patent to be 
made out for Phelim Mac Pheagh, his eldest son, to have !o him and his heirs the 
country and lands of which his fother Pheagh Mac Hugh died seized. 

" King James coming to the crown not long after, did, in the beginning of his 
reign, give the like direction for passing the said inheritance to Phelim. This sar 
Richard Graham, an old officer in the army, endeavoured to obstruct; and in order 
thereto, sued out a commission, directed to sir William Parsons and others, to en- 
quire into the said lands ; and upon the inquisition it was found that they were the 
inheritance of Pheagh Mac Hugh Byrne, father to Phelim, and were then in Phelim 
Mac Pheagh's possession. King James thereupon by a second letter directed, that 
Ranelagh, and all the lands whereof Phelim Mac Pheagh and Brian his son and 
heir were then seized, should be passed to them and their heirs by letters patent ; 
in consequence whereof, another oliice was taken, in which the lands were found as 
in the former. The first office, however, Was not yet filed, sir Richard Graham hav- 
ing opposed it ; and, by his interest, and the credit of a general book which he pro- 
duced, got possession of part of Phelim's lands, in virtue of a warrant from the lord 
deputy. Sir James Fitz Piers Fitzgerald attempted likewise to get another part of 
them passed to him upon the like authority ; but Bryan, the son, in whose posses- 
sion they were, complaining of it at the council table, sir James's patent was 
stayed. 

" Encouraged by this success, Bryan applied himself next to the king for redress 
against sir Richard Graham, complaining that, contrary to his majesty's letters, part 
of his lands had been passed to the said sir Richard. King James directed the cause 
to be heard at the council-board in Ireland, and certificate to be made of the truth. 
At the hearing, sir Richard alleged that the lands were the inheritance of certain 
freeholders, and not of Phelim and his ancestors ; and a commission was ordered for 
examining witnesses upon this fact. The council certified the king of their pro- 
ceedings, and sir Richard Graham, or an agent duly authorized by him, was re- 
quired to repair into England. Sir Richard sent his soir William, who thought to 
get Bryan's appeal dismissed by the help of the duke of Buckingham, and preferred 
a petition to the king, which the duke seconded. But the duke of Richmond being 
present, and knowing the case, acquainted his majesty with the true state of the 
matter. 

" The king thereupon referred the hearing and determining of it to the two dukes, 
who appointed sir Dudley Norton, sir Francis Annesley, sir Henry Bourchier, and 
Mr. Richard Hadsor, one of the king's learned counsel for the aflairs of Ireland, to hear 
the matter and certify the fact. When the cause was heard before these commis- 
sioners, sir William Parsons produced before them a book of his own writing, cal- 
culated to prove the lands in question to be the inheritance of freeholders, contrary 
to the office which had been found before sir William himself, and the otlier which 
had been taken (as is said above) in virtue of king James's second letter. But the 
commissioners giving more credit to those offices than to his book, sir William and 
Mr. Graham seeing that matters were likely to go in favour of Phelim, started an 
objection, which etlt'ctually prevented a final determination of the dispute 

" It was a fetch indeed that could not fail of success ; for they undertook, with the 
assistance of lord Esmond and Redmond Mac Pheagh, to entitle the king- to the 
lands or the greatest jiart of them, and to prove that flieif-^vere reulli/ Tested in the 
crown!! .' This immediately stopped the proceedings of the comn.issioners, who 
would give no sentence in a case where the crown was concerned, the right where- 
of they had no authority to determine. 

" Propositions for the benefit and service of the prince are always favourably re- 
ceived, and a commission was easily obtained, empowering sir William Parsons and 
others to enquire of the said lands. Bryan acquainting the duke of Richmond with 
this, his grace wrote himself to the lord deputy, and engaged the king and council 



CHAPTER XIX. 213 

sons and his confederates, which is a tolerably fair specimen of the 

of England to_ send directions to him to stay the commission. Notwithstanding 
which the commissioners went on with it, and an office was found tliat all the said 
lands were the inheritance of Pheagh Mac Hugh, (Phelim's father,) who died in re- 
bellion. But as queen Elizabeth had afterwards granted them to Phelim and his 
heirs, and the king had confirmed the same by his letters, this office needed not have 
hindered the passing of them to Phelim and Bryan, who were by those letters en- 
titled to Pheagh's whole inheritance. 

" This, however, could not be obtained, the lands being intended to pass into 
other liands. Bryan acquainted the king with these proceedings and intentions, 
and got his majesty's letter to the lord deputy and lord chancellor of Ireland, direct- 
ing tliat none of the said lands should pass by letters patents, lease, or otherwise, 
till the matter was heard at the council table in England. It happened unluckily 
for Bryan, that the duke of Buckingham went for 8pain before sir Dudley P^orton 
and the other commissioners had made their report ; and was so taken up after his 
return, that he could not meet the duke of Richmond to settle and decide the affair; 
but he had a much greater misfortune in the sudden death of the latter, which hap- 
pened soon after ; and left Phelim and Bryan without a patron in the court of Eng- 
land. 

" Their enemies soon made an advantage of it, and sir JVilliam Parsons got the 
lord depufif's -warrant- to tlie sheriff of fVicklo-w, to put him in possession of part 
of their lands t ! The sheriff accordingly gave sir William possession of that part 
which Phelim enjoyed! but Brj^an still kept the other part which was in liis own 
hands. Lord Esmond thereupon sent for him, and would have persuaded him to 
refer the matter to his decision, which Bryan declined, knoxuing that his lordship 
■was a confederate luitli his adversary ; as appeared afterrvards, ivhen tliat lord 
and sir William Parsons stiared /lis lands between the?)! ! ! ! This refusal lol-d Es- 
mond resented, and sir William Parsons afterwards sued Bryan in the Exchequer 
for the lands of which he still retained tiic possession, but his bill was dismissed. 
Lord Esmond, however, persisted in troubling him for those very lands, but Bryan 
maintaining his right, he and his brother Turlogh were by their adversaries' prac- 
tices committed close prisoners to Dublin castle ! ! ! on JMarcli 13, 1625, upon the 
information of Thomas Archer and Dermot Mac Griffin, Cahir Mac Edmond Mac 
Art, and Turlogh Duffe, all three of the name of Cavenagh. This last had for- 
merly plundered one of Phelim's tenant's houses, and carried off the man's wife and 
cows. Phelim, being a justice of the peace and of the quorum, upon his tenant's 
complaint, soon issued a warrant to apprehend Turlogh Duffe, who fled first into the 
county of Catherlogh, and from thence into that of Kilkenny, where he was appre- 
hended ; and then by way of revenge and to save his life accused Bryan and his 
brother Turlogh. Archer did not so readily subjriit to be an evidence ; he was 
^first miserably tortured .'!! put naked on a burning gridiron! .' .' ttien on a brand- 
iron, and burnt with gunpowder under his buttocks and fanks.'.'! and at last 
suffered tlie strapado till he was forced to accuse t/ie two brothers.'!.' and tlien lie 
obtained liis pardon ! ! Dermot Mac Griffin and Cahir Mac Art, were afterwards 
executed at Kilkenny, declaring at the hour of death tliat they had accused Bryan 
and Turlogh Byrne falsely ! ! ! Such were the witnesses that deposed ao-ainst 
them ; yet on their informatimi two bills were preferred against them, and two 
several grand juries at Catherlogh, not finding the bills, were prosecuted in the 
Star-chamber, and fined I ! ! 

" The two brothers, however, were still kept close prisoners, till the 20th of Au- 
gust following, when Turlogh was enlarged upon bail to appear on ten days' warn- 
ing: and Bryan was allowed the liberty of the house. This still disabling him from 
taking care of his affairs, he petitioned the council, who referring the matter to lord 
Aungier and the lord chief justice, Bryan was set at liberty on Christmas eve, but 
bound to appear in court the first day of the next term. He appeared accordingly, 
and nothing was alleged against him ; yet the lord chief justice was for binding him' 
oyer to the term following. Bryan opposed this, urging that it was the motion of 
his adversaries, and intended only to keep him from following his business ; and de- 
sired he might be bound over to appear in Michaelmas term, which would allow 
him time enough to go (o England, and prosecute his affair there. So much time 



214 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 

system generally pursued for the purpose. This case is the more re- 

was not thought proper to be allowed him, and he was bound to appear upon ten 
days' notice. This was still thought too much liberty for a man to enjoy, who was 
supported in his cause by two letters which king Charles, by the advice of his privy 
council, and the committee for Irish attiiirs, had sent over to the lord deputy for 
passing the lands to Phelim and his son; though tlt.e great [jevson xi-Iio had got 
possession of i hem, still fuiind means to jircvent tlie effect of those letters! And 
therefore a new prosecution was set on foot ; and Bryan and Turlogh appearing upon 
summons, were again, on November 2, 1627, committed close prisoners to the castle 
of Dnblin, loaded with irons, without any diet from tiis mnjesfi/, or leave for any 
friend to visit or relieve them, iliongh in the presence of itie constable and his son.'.'i 
This was done upon the information of Art Mac Cahir Cavenagh, who being con- 
demned at Catherlogh assizes was prevailed with to accvse the two brothers, but 
being afterwards executed ttiere pursuant to his sentence, declared at his execu- 
tion to tlie sJieriff,J\Ir. Pat rick Esmond, fa brotlier of lord Esmond'' s,) that tie had 
accused them falsely .' I .' and desired him to certify the lord deputy of it. 'J'heir 
adversaries, however, resolved to go on, and to involve the three other brothers and 
their father Phelim in the same common accusation of relieving and keeping com- 
panie with one Morrogh Baccogh Kavcnagh, who had for his crimes been banished 
for seven years, and returning before the term expired, was killed in making re- 
sistance against those that attempted to apprehend them. Morrogh was guilty of 
a contempt in returning ; biit yet was under the king's protection ;- so that it was 
neither felony nor treason to converse with him; neither had Phelim or his son ever 
known or seen the man ; yet this in defect of another, was to serve for the matter 
of their accusation, probably because it best suited the witnesses who were to 
be suborned, and being of a private nature was the less liable to be refuted. 
Phelim and his sons had been zealous in apprehending Bryan Kavenagh, (Mor- 
rogh's brother,) and two others concerned with him in the murder of Mr. Ponte, 
for which they were executed ; which rendered it not very likely that Phelim 
should correspond familiarly or criminally with Morrogh ; but naturally enough 
led people to think, that the latler's relations migtit, out of a spirit of a revenge, 
be ttie more easily drawn to swear any thing ttiat would do mlsctdefto ttie jormer, 
especicdly wtieii it would be ttie means ff saving I heir lives ! ! Lord Esmond had 
then in prison one of Morrogh's nephews, who was with him when he was killed, 
and had been in rebellion. He sent this )nan to Dublin to accuse Phelim and his 
sons, which itie ilireais of being hanged, and the pi'omise of life and pQrdon, pre- 
vailed with him to do!! James Mac Elife, brolher-in-law to Morrogh, and Bryan 
Kavenagh, was made use of for the same purpose. One Nicholas Notter, a noto- 
rious thief, had been prosecuted so hard by Phelim for stealing seven cows and five 
garrons from his tenants, that he was forced to fly the county of Wicklow, where 
two indictments for those thefts were found against him : but being afterward^ 
condemned for a robbery in ttie north, he was sent back to Dublin to purctiase his 
life by accusing Plie'im and tus sons; for wlJcti tie was likewise rewarded wit li 
apparel and other necessaries ! ! Garald Mac Fardorogh, brother-in-law to Shane 
Bane, (who being in rebellion was apprehended by Phelim's son Hugh, and exe- 
cuted,) had been at the last Lent assizes prosecuted by Phelim for robbing his house; 
and being put in irons, in tlie castle of Dublin for anottier crime wtiicti tie con- 
fessed, was got to join in ttie accusation ! Edmund Dufie had been prosecuted by 
Mrs. Wolvcrston, Phelim's daughter, and condemned for burglary ; he was after- 
wards carried to ttie gallows, and being ready to be turned off, promised to accuse 
Phelim, and was saved from execution ! ! ! Lisagh Dufl'Mac Laghlin, a common 
thief, had at the last Wicklow assizes upon the jiroscciilion of Luke Byrne, Phe- 
lim's nephew, for stealing a tiorse, been condemned ; but was, on his accusing 
Phelim, set at liberty .'.' Such were the witnesses made use of in this affair; 7ione 
(f which were produced in person ! ! ! and j'et it was resolved to find a bill against 
Phelim and his five sons at Wicklow assizes, upon the bare reading of these, or 
some of these fellows' examinations, which (as the men could speak only Lish,) 
were most of them taken by sir Henry Belling's and Mr. Graham's interpretations. 
The lord chief justice, upon sight of the evidence, expressed a doubt, whether the 
jury would credit it; upon which sir Henry Belling pressed him to sign the bill, and 



CHAPTER XIX. 215 

niarkable, and sheds the strono-er light on the subject, as the victims 
were under the patronage of the Duke of Richmond, which, however, 
was not sufficient to aflord them shelter from the lawless violerce of 
their persecutors. How deplorable, then, must have been the case of 
the thousands, exposed to similar persecution, unshielded by the pro- 
tection of any powerful patron ! 

" He who could not establish the right of his possessions, clearly 
and indisputably, lay at the mercy of the crown, and had no way but 
to compound on the best terms he could obtain, and to get a new grant 
of his estate." — Leland, H. 547, 

To the evidence here stated, to prove the utter insecurity of property 

said he wouIJ undertake that ihc jury should find it. Proper measures indeed were 
taken for it ; and lord Esmond iiad got Piers Sexton, who had married his niece, 
and was a tenant to sir William Parsons, to be made high sheriff for the job ; 
though ho had no such freehold asVould by statute qualify him for serving that 
office. A grand jury was impannellcd ; sirJames Fitz Piers Fitzgerald, a mortal enemy 
of Plielim and Ills familu, and ivlio fiad a promise of part of Plielini^s estate, or an 
equivalent in lieu tliereof xvas ttie foreman, ttiojigh, lie fiad no land in ttie county ! ! 
Sir Henry Belling, lutio tiad actually got possession of part of ttie said estate, -was 
ttie second! ! most of ttie rest -were notfreetiolders ! ! and all of ttie m allied to, or 
dependa?its on, lord Esmond, sir William Parsons, and ottiers, wtio tiad interest in 
Ptielim's estate !! 'Tis no wonder that such a jury found the bill, which was fol- 
lowed two days after by the death of Phelim's wife, who expired of grief to see her 
husband's and children's lives and fortunes put into such hands, and exposed to 
such imminent danger. She was buried at Wicklow, and her body dug up three 
weeks afterwards. Though the grand jury had thus found the bill, yet other wit- 
nesses were necessary for the trial of the parties. Sir Henry Belling, (wAo never 
stuck at any practice, liowever execrable, to carry tits point,) and Mr. William (son 
of sir Richard) Graham who had got into possession of part of Phelim's estate of 
Cosha, undertook the finding of them. They were both of them provosts martial, 
and exerted all the power of their post for that purpose. 'Tis almost incredible 
luhat a number of persons ttiey toot; up, and detained in close priso7i for lueetcs 
and monttis togeltier, soliticing ttiem all ttie ivtiile -uiitti promises of reward, and 
ttireats of ttardstiips, even of death, itself, to accuse Itte gentlemeii ivtiose intieri- 
tance ttiey ivanted to seize !! Some ttiey put to ttie racts ! / ottiers Itiey tried and 
condemned by martial laiv, at a time ivtien ttie courts of justice -were sitting ! .' 
Some of the latter who were executed at Dublin, as Shane O'Toole, Laghlin 
O'Clune Cahir Glasse and his brother, declared at their death, in the hearing of 
thousands, that ttiey tvere executed because ttiey could not accuse Ptielim and tiis 
sons// and ttie lilce declarations ivere made by ottiers wtio suffered in ttie country / / 
" Some friends of the persecuted gentleman, seeing by how infamous and detesta- 
ble methods their lives and estates were attacked, made application in their behalf to 
the king and council in England, with such success, that a commission was sent 
over to enquire into the affair. The chief of those friends who thus interposed was 
sir Francis Annesley, afterwards lord Mountnorris ; and this, (as far as I can find,) 
seems to me the only ground of the imputation laid upon him by a noble historian, 
of being an enemy to the deputies of Ireland, and of attacking them for their admi- 
nistration, as soon as they left the government. The commission was directed to the 
lord primate of Ireland, the lord chancellor, the archbishop of Dublin, the lord chief 
justice and sir Arthur Savage, who sate upon it day after day for a fortnight toge- 
ther in the latter end of November and the beginning of December, 1628, taking the 
depositions of a great number of witnesses, wherein the truth of the above men- 
tioned circumstances of this prosecution fully appeared, by the testimony of Mr.Wil- 
liam Eustace of Castlemartyn, (father to sir Maurice Eustace, afterwards lord chan- 
cellor,) and other unexceptionable persons. Ttiis restored ttie gentlemen to ttieir 
liberty ttiougti not to their estate, a considerable part whereof, particularly the ma- 
nor of Carrick, in the Ranelaghs, had been during their imprisonment passed to sir 
William Parsons by a patent dated the 4th of August." 4 Car. — Cakte, I. 27. 



216 VINDICIiE HIBERNICf]. 

(luring the millenium so glowingly pourtraycd by Temple, Clarendon, 
Leland, and Warner, I might make copious additions — but I forbear, 
presuming it would be a work of superogation — as the point is, I trust, 
fully established, beyond the reach of controversy. 

I shall close this chapter, with another enormous grievance, which 
degraded and dishonoured the families of the Catholic nobility and 
gentry, and caused great depredation on their estates ; I mean that ra- 
pacious and oppressive tribunal, styled 

The Court of JFards. 

A very large portion of the exercise of the energies, the talents, and 
the industry of mankind, results from that holy regard to offspring, 
which pervades all animated nature, not excepting the most ferocious 
tenants of the woods; is among the most powerful of tlie impelling 
motives of man and beast; and is wisely implanted by our Creator for 
the best purposes. Men of genuine ^latental feelings labour, with at 
least as much zeal, to secure independence and happiness for their 
offspring, as for their own proper advantage. But as if nothing holy 
or sacied could escape the violence and virulence of the Irish adminis- 
tration, in its dire hostility to the Roman Catholics, an attempt was 
made to cut up by the roots this inherent and instinctive principle, by 
the establishment of the court of wards, whereby the heirs of the Irish 
nobility and gentry were, on the decease of their parents, placed under 
the care of some court parasite, or person who bribed the adminis- 
tration, and thus purchased the guardianship. Lord Orrery remarks, 
that the objections to the court of wards were, that " no man would 
labour for a child, who, /or aught he knoivs, may be sold like cattle in 
the market, even to those who ivill give most: for," adds he, " such 
ABUSES HAVE BEEN TOO OFTEN COMMITTED by thosc who have cujoyed 
the bounties of the king."— Onrn/, I. 59. This statement from Lord 
Orrery, of the situation of the children of the Roman Catholics, who 
were " sold in the market'''' to the highest bidder, deserves the most 
marked attention ; and coming from the pen of a most rancorous ene- 
my, establishes this point beyond controversy, and exhibits a species 
of oppression of which probal)ly the world has beheld few examples. 

Independent of the education of tlie heirs, the court of wards had a 
control over their marriage, of which they made a most iniquitous 
use ; and frequently degraded and dishonoured them, by selling them to 
persons wholly unsuitable in point of character and family.* 

In the Trim Remonstrance, the Roman Catholics make the most 
severe conrplaints against the exactions, injustice, and oppression of 
this court, whereby ^' the heirs of Catholic noblemen and other Catho- 

— ..^^®©e«"— 
* " The wardship and marriage of the heir were likewise reserved to the crown. 
These lands and wardships were usual/y granted to favourites, and men of power 
and interest, who, though they gave security to the court of wards to take due care, as 
well of the education and maintenance of the heir, as of the good condition of the 
estate, too often neglected" hoth ! destroyed tlie -woods, and committed Itorrible 
ivaste upon tlie lands ! ! bruugld up the lieir in igno7-ancp, and in a mean manner 
vn-zcorthif of his fjiniUt,/ ' .' and, SELLING HIS PERSON TO THE BEST 
BIDDER! ' matched him vnequaUti in point of birth and fortune, astvellas disa- 
greeablirtvith regard to flie c/iaracfer, fjuulifies, and fgnre vf tlie person tliat was 
picked out lo be the companion of Ids life .' I .' — Cahtk, II. 248. 



CHAPTER XIX. 217 

lies were most cruelly and tyrannically dealt withal, destroyed in their 
estates, and bred in dissoluteness and ignorance."* 

The ostensible object of this iniquitous and oppressive court, was to 
educate the heirs of the great Catholic families in the Protestant reli- 
gion, and thus "■prevent the growth of popery f\ and their efforts to 
accomplish this grand object, reconciled the zealots of that period to 
the Infraction and ruin of the unhappy objects of their care. 

In addition to the intrinsic injustice and oppression of this court, it 
was entirely illegal and unconstitutional — no law having ever been 
passed to sanction it — and it having been wholly unknown in Ireland, 
till the 14th year of the reign of James I.j: when it was arbitrarily esta- 
blished by a mere act of state, that is, of the privy council of Ireland. In 
England, it had been established by law, and under some restrictions 
which mitigated its oppression. In Ireland it was under no control or 
restraint, and its operation was inexpressively vexatious and rapa- 
cious. 

— •'•►»e®®<«'— 

* Extract from Hie Remonstrance of the Catholics of Ireland, presented to his 

majesty'' s commissioners at Trim, March \1 , 1642. 

The fourth item of their grievances, was 

" The illegal, arbitrary, and unlawful proceedings of the said sir William Parsons, 
and one of the said impeached judges, and their adherents and instruments in the 
court of wards, and the many wilfully erroneous decrees and judgments of that 
court, by which the heirs of Catholic noblemen and other Catholics were most cru- 
elly and tyrannically dealt withal ; destroyed in their estates, and bred ! in disso- 
luteness and ignorance; their parents^ debts imsatisfed.' their young-er brotliers and 
sisters left -wholly unprovided for .' the ancient appearing tenure of mesne lords un- 
regarded ! ! estates valid in law, and made for valuable considerations, avoided 
ag-ainst laiv ! ! and the -whole land filled up ivith the frequent swarms ofeschcators, 
feodaries, pursuevants, ond others, by autliority of tJiat court^\' .' — Plowden, I. 
App. 84. 

f " Another main part of the regal authority was the wards, which anciently 
the crown took into their own management. Our kings were according to the first 
institution, the guardians of the wards. They bred them up in their courts, and 
disposed of them in marriage as they thought fit. Afterwards they compounded or 
forgave them ; or gave them some branches of the family, or to provide the younger 
children. But they proceeded in this very gently: and the chief care after the re- 
formation was to breed the wards protestants. Still all were under a great depend- 
ance by this means. Much money was not raised this way : but families -were often 
at mercy and -were used according to tlieir behaviour. King James granted these 
generally to his servants and favourites! ! and they made the most of them ! .' so 
tliat -what was before a dependance on tJie croxvn, and was moderately compounded 
for, became then a most exacting oppression, by wliich several families -were 
ruined'''' .'.'.' .' — Bcrj^et, I. 16. 

\ " They urged against the court of wards, that it was a new court never known in 
Ireland till 14 Jac; tliat it tiad no warrant from am/ law or statttte .'/ whereas that 
of England was erected by act of parliament; that the subject was extremely op- 
pressed thereby, through the multitude of informations against all freeholders from 
the highest to the lowest, without any limitation of time ! ! the frequent courts of 
escheators and feodaries, the destruction of the tenures of mesne lords by illegal 
finding of them to be in capite !! the sale of wards, the want of provision fort lie 
portions cf younger c/iildren / ! wliereby they perished or toot: ill courses, and the 
7ion-payment of debts! ! that the wards were neglected ! ! and whilst the officers of 
ttie coiirt raised vast fortunes to themselves; tlie Icing did 7iot receive one shilling 
advantage for twenty times tlie damage done his people ! that they did not desire 
any diminution of his majesty's profit, but were willing that the personal service 
should on all occasions be performed, and a course taken, as well for securing that 
r-ervice and the king's revenue, as for the preservation of heirs and orphans, and the 
satisfaction of creditors." — Carte, I. 517. 

28 



218 VINDICliE HIBERNIC^. 



PART III. 

FROM 1641 UNTIL 1660. 
This part of the work is divided into thirteen chapters. 

XX. View of the three civil wars in Scotland, Ireland, and Eng- 
land. 

XXI. The age of forgery, perjury, fraud, and imposture. 
XXIL The pretended conspiracy of 1641. 

XXIII. Plan for the extermination of the Catholics of Ireland. 

XXIV. Rapacious project for confiscating their estates. 

XXV. Nefarious project of the lords justices to drive the Irish t© 
desperation. 

XXVI. Confiscation ; perjury j subornation of witnesses, &c. 

XXVII. View of the spirit of the hostile parties in Ireland. 

XXVIII. Cessation of hostilities. Furious and fanatical uproar. 

XXIX. Was there really a massacre of the Protestants in 1641? 
Unparalleled exaggeration. 

XXX. Enquiry into the pretended cruelties of the Irish. 

XXXI. Barbarous system of warfare pursued by the Irish govern- 
ment. Indiscriminate massacre of the Irish, men, women and children. 

XXXII. Final subjugation of Ireland by Cromwell. 

This section of Irish history is far more important than any that 
precedes or follows it. A complexion has been given by the events of 
this period, to the destinies of millions of human beings, descendants 
of the parties then engaged in warfare — and consigned the mass of the 
nation to a state little less abject than that of the unhappy Africans in 
the West Indies, while it has enabled a haughty, despotic, and cruel 
minority to erect themselves into a lordly aristocracy, and trample their 
fellow subjects in the dust.* 

There is more falsehood and imposture interwoven in this period^ 
than ever found place in any other history of ten times the extent — 
and more pains have been taken to suppress truth, and give currency 
to forgery and perjury, than the world ever witnessed before or since 

Hence a writer who undertakes to treat on the events of this period, 
necessarily labours under very extraordinary disadvantages — disadvan- 
tages which would be insuperable, but for a very fortunate circum- 
stance, that a large portion of the history bears its condemnation 
stamped on its forehead in conspicuous characters by its absurdity, in- 
consistency and contradictions. 

—•»»»©«««•— 

* Let it be remembered that this passage was written in the year 1819, from 
which time the state of the nation has been materially changed. But much remains 
yet to be done. Ages of retribution would scarcely atone for the endless succession 
of misery inflicted on Ireland during the ages of British domination up to the repeal 
of the penal code, by insatiable rapaci'y, fraud, perjury, and in a word every con- 
ceivable species of misgovernment, whereby one of the nations most highly blessed 
by nature has been rendered one of the most wretched. 



CHAPTER XX. 219 



CHAPTER XX. 

Three civil wars. Different degrees of provocation. Different 

results. 

" Dat veniam corvis ; vexat censura columbas." — Juven ax. 

He must be a very supei'ficial reader or observer, who requires to 
be informed how very different the rewards or punishments which in 
this life are bestowed on acts absolutely similar — or how frequently 
an act which brings ruin on one man, elevates another to the highest 
pinnacle of worldly grandeur and prosperity. Instances in illustration 
of this idea are of frequent occurrence in public and private life. 

" The ways of heaven are dark and intricate. 

Puzzled in mazes, and perplexed with errors. 

Our understanding traces them in vain, 

Lost and bewilder'd in the fruitless search." — Addisow. 

The three kingdoms subject to the crown of England, were the 
theatres of civil vyar, almost cotemporaneously. The consequences 
to the actors, during their existence, and to their fame with posterity, 
were as different as light and darkness. The Irish, who had every 
possible justification, — on whom had been perpetrated almost every 
species of outrage ; who were goaded into civil war by an uninterrupted 
series of depredation and oppression, paid a most ruinous forfeit in 
fortune and in cotemporaneous and posthumous fame : while those, 
whose grievances were comparatively insignificant, and who, of course, 
had incomparably less justification, attained, living and dead, the high- 
est honours, and many of them aggrandized themselves in point of 
fortune and worldly honours, to the full extent of their utmost wishes. 
This is not exactly as it should be : it is almost too late completely to 
correct the prevalent errors on the subject, to wash away the foul stains 
which sordid avarice, religious bigotry, blind and infuriated fanaticism, 
and national rancour, in a word all the hideous passions that degrade 
and dishonour human nature, impressed upon the suflerers. But 
though I may not therefore fully succeed, yet the attempt to effect 
these great objects can hardly be otherwise than useful. 

Charles I. a bigot and a despot by education, wickedly endeavoured 
to force a new religion on the Scotch. In this, he only followed the 
examples of his predecessors, Henry, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, 
who had successively either forced or persuaded their servile parlia- 
ments four times, in the course of about thirty years, to make radical 
changes in the established religion. 

Let it be observed, however, that the new religion was not the an- 
tipodes of the old one, as had been the case with the changes of Ed- 
ward, Mary, and Elizabeth. The new religion bore many kindred 
features of the old ; in points of doctrine they were nearly sisters, 



*J20 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC.E. 

although there was a marked difference in the church government. 
But the difference between the religion which Edward, Mary, and 
Elizabeth found '■'•by law established,^^ and the one they ^^established 
by /a?y," was incalculably greater than between the religion of Scot- 
land at the accession of Charles I. and the religion lie attempted to 
force on his subjects. 

An important consideration must not be passed over here. The 
Scotch laboured under scarcely any other grievance than the contem- 
plated innovation in their religion : their persons and properly were 
sacred. 

They resisted the despotic and wicked interference between them and 
their Maker. They were perfectly justified in the eyes of heaven and 
their fellow-men. It is not given by the living God to any of the son." 
of men to force the religious worship of their fellow-men ; and the 
attempt to change religious opinions by legal coercion, is as transcen- 
dently absurd, as would be the effort to " change the hue of the dusky 
Ethiop." Brutal force, as has been long since observed, may coerce 
men into apparent conformity; but it never yet made a convert, — and 
never will; it is fated to produce only martyrs or hypocrites. 

The evil destiny of Charles induced him to raise forces to subdue 
the refractory Scotch. They obeyed the first law of human nature, — 
the law of self-preservation. They raised forces to defend themselves ; 
finally triumphed over the aggressor ; and extorted from him a grant 
of every demand they chose to make. He was totally foiled ; and re- 
tired from the contest, defeated, and overwhelmed with shame and 
disgrace. 

What has been the result as respects, the Scotch ? They were ho- 
noured during their lives ; were rewarded by the English parliament 
with three hundred thousand pounds, and twenty-five thousand pounds 
monthly, for ''their brotherly assistance :^' and now occupy a place 
in history as men who embarked in a holy cause, and were resolved 
to die or be free.* 

This very extraordinary proof of " brotherly affections" has attracted 
the attention of few readers of English history. The money paid to tlie 
Scotch on this occasion, is generally confounded with the arrears paid 
them about five years afterwards, when they delivered Charles I. into 
the hands of the parliament, after he had fled to their camp before 
Newark, on the final downfal of his affairs. This, as appears from the 
annexed note, is a very great error. 

Thus that very parliament which so rancorously pursued the Irish 
to their utter ruin, and to the scaffold, for resistance to the most odious 
tyranny and oppression, lavished the wealth of their constituents on 

—••»»»©©<«•— 

Mat/ 21, 1641. 

* " Resolved, &.C. That the whole arrear of 120,000/. be presently paid to the 
Scots, out of which the due debts of the counties are to be deducted; a7id for the 
brotherly assistance of 300,000/. it shall be settled and secured by the kingdom to 
them." — Nalsox, II. 255. 

" As a testimony of their brotherly affections, the two houses had frankly under- 
taken to give them a gratuity of three hundred thousand pounds, over and above the 
twenty-five thousand pounds the month, during the lime their stay should be neces- 
siary." — CLAHixroN's E. I. 209. 



CHAPTER XX. 221 

the Scotch, for similar resistance, without a tenth part of the provo- 
cation. 

A singular circumstance occured, on taking the vote for the " bro- 
therly assistance.'''' Mr. Jervase Mollis, in a debate on the best and 
speediest means of their payment, having said, " that he knew no 
better or fitter than by English arms to expel them the kingdom," was 
called to the bar, and expelled the house. — Frankland, 900. 

Times soon changed. The Scotch, then such favourites, fell into 
disgrace in a few years. By a vote of the house of commons, ten 
years afterwards, fifteen hundred of the prisoners of that nation 
were sold or given away to the Guinea merchants, to work in the 
mines* 

In 1642, a civil war took place in England, on various grounds, into 
the detail of which it is irrelevant to my present purpose to enter. 
That Charles I. was, in the first fifteen years of his reign, an arbitrary 
despot, — that the proceedings in the Star-Chamber Court were both 
tyrannical and cruel, — that the fines in that court were oppressive, the 
punishments frequently most barbarous, the exactions of ship-money, 
tonnage, and poundage, illegal and unjust; and that they required and 
justified resistance, none but a cringing slave, deserving of the despot's 
lash, will deny. But it is impossible to read the history of that dark 
and disastrous period, with calmness and candour, without being con- 
vinced that all the substantial grievances of the nation were removed, 
and amply-adequate mounds established to guard against a recurrence 
of them, before a single soldier was raised, a single drop of blood shed, 
or a single step taken towards civil war or rebellion. In no country 
whatever was liberty more adequately secured, than it was by the laws 
enacted from the commencement of the Long Parliament, in Novem- 
ber, 1640, till February, 1642. With every demand of Parliament 
during that period, Charles complied; sometimes, it is true, very 
reluctantly, and with an ill grace. But, until they claimed a right to 
exercise the power over the militia, which would have been a virtual 
abandonment of the most important item of the regal authority, he had 
refused them nothing. 

The English, nevertheless, took up arms. Civil war spread its 
horrors over the nation, with its hideous train of demoralization and 
devastation. Torrents of blood were shed; conflagration, rape, lapine, 
and murder, prowled at large ; the foundations of society Avere shaken ; 
and the melancholy result was, to place the sceptre in the hand, and 
the crown on the head, of Cromwell, an unprincipled, canting hypo- 
crite; and, after his death, and the unconditional restoration of Charles 
II., to establish passive obedience and non-resistance, by an odious 
positive law, under one of the most licentious and profligate monarchs 
that ever disgraced the throne of England, with scarcejy a virtue to 
redeem him from the reprobation of posterity. And thus the leaders 
of that large, powerful, and respectable party that struggled for the 

—•'•►♦© ® ©4*«« .— 

* Septeniher 20, 16,51. 
" Upon the desire of the Guinea merchants, fifteen hundred of the Scots prisoners 
were granted to them, and sent on shipboard, to be sent to Guinea, to work in the 
mines there," — WiuTELorK, 485. 



222 VINDICL^ HIBERNICE. 

Jiberties of the English nation, actually paved the way for a far worse 
state of things than existed at the period when the contest commenced. 
To their intemperance, imprudence, and deficiency of political foresight, 
their country owed all its sufferings under the scandalous reign of 
Charles II. the very worst of the despicable race of the Stuarts. Had 
they stopped short, when they drew the teeth, and pared the nails, of 
despotism, — when they traced the strong line of demarcation between 
tyranny on one side, and anarchy on the other, they would have de- 
served eternal remembrance, and have conferred lasting and inestimable 
blessings on their country. Their improvidence places at their door, 
all the havoc and ruin, the demoralization, and destruction, of a seven 
years' war, — the failure of a noble experiment in favour of the rights 
of human nature, as well as the triumph they afforded to the friends of 
absolute power, by the odious abuse of liberty. These stains can 
never be washed away. 

It requires but little reflection or observation, to discover a consider- 
able resemblance between the issue of this contest, and that of the revo- 
lution in France in 1789 : and that the leaders in both countries commit- 
ted exactly the same species of error, with results not very dissimilar. 
Had the parliament of England stopped short at the point above stated, 
the liberties of that nation would have been placed in 1642, on a far 
better and more secure foundation, than they acquired at the so-much- 
extolled revolution in 1688, when, on the abdication of the bigot 
James, they called in a foreign prince to rule them, with scarcely any 
stipulation in favour of liberty. And it is equally obvious, that had the 
French leaders rested content with the constitution which bestowed on 
the" king a veto on the acts of the legislature, similar to what exists in 
England or the United States, the nation and the world at large would 
have been prodigiously benefited: and an incalculable waste of human 
happiness and wealth, rivers of blood, and millions of lives, would 
have been spared. But, according to the wise aphorism of the ex- 
president Adams, " Every age will make experience for itself." 

What, nevertheless, has been the result as to the actors on this 
stage ? 

They are to this day regarded with the highest veneration, by the 
most enlightened part of mankind. Their numerous follies, their vices, 
their crimes, are buried in eternal oblivion. Their resistance to lawless 
tyranny has immortalized them. 

The Irish, at the same period, suffered almost every species of the 
most grinding, odious, and revolting despotism that can be conceived. 
They were -subjected to heavy penalties, for worshipping God accord- 
ing to the dictates of their consciences, or for not attending on a wor- 
ship which they believed heretical ; they were robbed of their estates 
by high-handed and flagitious tyranny and fraud; they were subject to 
martial law, with all its horrors, in time of profound peace; their juries 
were ruinously fined, and mutilated in their persons, for not finding 
verdicts against the plainest dictates of justice ; their churches were de- 
molished, or rapaciously seized by their oppressors; their children were 
torn from their natural guardians, and transferred to the care of worth- 
less strangers, who squandered their estates, and brought them up in 
habits of licentiousness: — in a word, it is diflicult to conceive of any 
species of oppression which they did not endure. 



CHAPTER XX. 223 

They were goaded into insurrection. And if ever resistance of law- 
less outrage and tyranny were loudly and imperiously called for — if 
ever the standard of freedom claimed the sympathies of mankind, the 
Irish standard had an indisputable title to it. And what has been the 
result? Their most illustrious families were reduced to beggary ; their 
estates, to the amount of millions of acres, were confiscated ; above 
half a million of the natives were slaughtered, banished, or perished by 
famine and plague, [Petty, 18,) the consequence of the ruthless and 
savage ferocity with which they were pursued by their enemies. 
They were covered with obloquy and abuse, during their lives ; their 
memory has been detested; and the crimes falsely alleged against 
them, have been visited upon their descendants to the fiflh and sixth 
generation, in the odious form of the vile code of laws, " to prevent the 
growth of popery.''^ 

The monstrous, absurd, improbable, and impossible legends of the 
massacre by the Irish, I shall fully investigate in a future chapter. I 
now confine myself to the simple circumstance of the insurrection 
itself, divested of all its horrors, real or pretended. And I dare aver, 
that if ever, from the creation of the world, there was a holy, sacred 
insurrection, — an insurrection warranted by every law, divine or 
human, this was preeminently justified. Further: if the leaders of the 
Irish insurgents, who attempted to emancipate themselves from the 
tyranny of England, were traitors and rebels, then were William Tell, 
Maurice, Prince of Orange, Pym, Hambden, and Sydney, traitors and 
rebels. One step further: if these Irishmen were traitors and rebels, 
Randolph, Henry, Hancock, Adams, Dickinson, Livingston, Lee,^ Rut- 
ledge, Clinton, and Washington himself, were traitors and rebels ; and 
not merely traitors and rebels, but traitors and rebels of the most atro- 
cious kind ; as the difference between the grievances that Washington 
and his illustrious compeers rose to redress, and those under which 
Ireland groaned, is very nearly as great as that between the liberty and 
happiness of an American citizen, and the abject state of the subjects 
of Turkish despotism. Indeed, if the Irish insurgents were traitors 
and rebels, then every man, in every age and country, without a single 
exception, who ever dared to raise his arm against oppression, was a 
traitor and a rebel. 

This is strong language, which will doubtless be in direct hostility 
with the prejudices of a large portion of my readers. From their 
prejudices I appeal to their reason and candour ; and if the decision be 
made by these respectable arbiters, I feel no doubt about the issue. 
For, to confine myself to the American revolution, will any man, not 
lost to decency or common sense, dare to commit himself, by com- 
paring the grievances of America with those of Ireland ? — a three-penny 
tax on tea, with the court of wards, the star-chamber, the high-com- 
mission court, the flagitious plunder of half the province of Ulster, the 
seizure of 385,000 acres in Lenster, the rapine perpetrated in the pro- 
vince of Connaught, the persecution of their religion, the seizure of 
their churches, the banishment of their priests, the restriction of their 
trade, the execution of martial law during a time of peace, — in a word, 
the endless detail of the most grievous oppression on record ? If then 
the despotic and lawless imposition of a paltry tax on tea, warranted 
the subject in drawing the sword, and commencing a civil war, surely 



224 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

the oppressions of Ireland warranted it inexpressibly more. Indeed, 
it may be averred, and the decision submitted to any bar of enlightened 
men in Christendom, that were all the oppressions suflered by the 
American provinces, from the first landing of the pilgrims to the decla- 
ration of independence, aggregated into one solid mass, and all the 
oppressions of England, under the Stuarts, thrown in to swell the 
amount, they would not equal one tithe of the grievances suflered by 
the Irish, during the reigns of James I. and Charles I. And it is, 
moreover, hardly possible to find, in the history of Ireland, from the 
invasion of Henry II. till the Union, any five consecutive years, in 
which the Irish had not greater ground for insurrection and resistance 
to the English government, than England could plead in 1688, or 
America in 1775 or 1776. 



CHAPTER XXI. 225 



CHAPTER XXI. 

The age of forgery, plots, perjury, and imposture. Plot for the 
murder of certain lords ; for the murder of one hundred and 
eight members of both houses! Oat es^^s plot. Dangerfield. Bed- 
low. Notorious perjury against Bishop .Plunket. Letter drop- 
ping. 

It is wonderful, " thnt whenever the faction had need of a plot, some kind person 
or other was sure to furnish them with one or more, as there was occasion." — 
Nalson, ir. 816. 

" Beware of him ; 
Sin, death and hell have set their marks on him — 
And all their ministers attend on him."* — Shakspeahe. 

" A lie, believed for an hour, doth many times in a nation produce events of seven 
years continuance." — -\ Cardinal Lorhaine. 

Although this division of the work was intended to be confined to 
the nineteen years from the commencement of the insurrection to the 
restoration, yet in the present chapter, in order to bring the odious sub- 
ject under one coup d'ceil, I shall take the liberty to depart from tliat 
arrangement, and present a view of some of the various plots fabricated 
during the whole century for the purpose of destroying the reputation, 
and affording a pretext to depredate on the property, of the Roman 
Catholics. 

Every age of the world is characterized by some peculiar folly or 
wickedness, which distinguishes it from those which have preceded, as 
well as from those which follow, with nearly as much accuracy as the 
varied features of the face distinguish one man from another. 

Any impartial, enlightened reader, called upon to fix the peculiar 
feature of the seventeenth century, in the widp (ange of the British do- 
minions, would, without hesitation, pronounce it to have been the age 
of forgery, perjury, and fabricated plots, contrived for the purpose of 
overwhelming the innocent in ruin, and enriching malefactors with 
their spoils. 

It is hardly credible, at the present day, when the dire passions 
which actuated so large a portion of the community in England and 
Ireland, during that period, have wholly subsided, and are now almost 
inconceivable, what a number of these contrivances were employed ; 
how regularly they succeeded each other; what mischievous conse- 
quences they produced ; and yet how excessively stupid the most of 

* This is an excellent description of Titu« Gates — though applied to some equally 
detestable villain. 

•j- The cardinal did not place his position on the strong- ground to which it might 
lay claim. Some of the "lies" told in 1041, 2, 3, and 4, have produced conse- 
quences for nearly two centuries, and their operation may extend to centuries to 
come, and to the posterity of children yet unborn. 

29 



•226 VINDICLE HIDEKNIC.E. 

them were. Many of them, which were devoured with greedy ears 
by the great and little vulgar, were so ridiculous, so absurd, and so 
utterly improbable, that, at the present day, they would not impose on 
a gang of swine-herds. 

Previously to entering into the examination and detection of the 
miserable pretended conspiracy of 1641, which led to scenes of horror, 
desolation, and massacre of the Irish, that chill the blood in the veins, 
I shall present various facts, to satisfy the reader that the fabrica- 
tion of pretended plots was a regular trade, pursued upon a most 
extensive scale ; was one of the levers by which the movements of 
the political machine were regulated ; and that consistency, cohe- 
rence, probability, or even possibility, were not necessary to ensure 
success. 

I have already established the efficacy of this infamous system, in 
producing contiscation in Ireland ; and how thousands were involved 
in ruin, and their posterity for ages consigned to poverty, by the drop- 
ping of a wretched catchpenny letter in the reign of James I. Tyrone, 
a nobleman of high grade and princely possessions among the Irish, 
after having rendered important services to the state, and received a 
wound, fighting in its defence against his own countrymen, was almost 
immediately charged with a conspiracy, on grounds the most frivolous 
and contemptible, merely from the lust of spoliating his immense 
estate. The same vile course was pursued with Shane O'Nial, whose 
estate was finally confiscated, after he was basely assassinated, at the 
instigation of the lord deputy. 

The low herd of hardened wretches, who perjured themselves by 
swearing to those plots, as well as those of the higher orders, equally 
hardened, who suborned them for this execrable purpose,* felt no 
" compunctious visitings" of remorse, that torrents of blood were occa- 
sionally shed, through the means of their perjuries, 

" Their conscience, wide as he!l,"-J- 

sufliered no nausea at the immolation of hosts of innocent victims on 
the bloody altars of their ambition, their avarice, their fanaticism, and 
their vengeance. 

Many of the instrumejits used on these occasions, were the basest 
and most wicked of mankind, — wretches| elaborated, in prisons, in 
stews, and other hot-beds and nurseries of villany, to the last degree of 
turpitude of which man is capable. Their stories were so contradic- 
tory, that the falsehood and perjury were manifest to the most cursory 
observer: but such was the general depravity and delusion of the 
times, and such the devouring thirst for the blood of the victims, that 
no profligacy in the witnesses, no contradiction, no improbability, no 
impossibility in the evidence, no degree of immaculate innocence in 
the objects of their rage and malice, could save them from destruction. 
Accusation and condemnation were, in almost every instance, synony- 
mous terms. 

* " Leaders so little scrupulous, as to endeavour, by encouraging perjury, sub- 
ornation, lies, imposture, and even by shedding- i7inocent blood, to gratify their own 
furious ambition." — Humt., IV. 331. 

f Shakspeare. | Oates, D.mgeifield, and liedlow . 



CHAPTER XXL 227 

In those days, conspiiators were accustomed, if we believe the de- 
positions of some of the plot-contrivers, to stand in the open streets 
and highways, and converse about their conspiracies and treasons, as 
publicly and unreservedly as at present we convey to each other the 
intelligence of the price of stocks, the state of the weather, or any of 
those important nothings which form so large a portion of what is 
called conversation. This free and easy system was quite convenient 
to the informers, as it saved them much trouble in searching for 
evidence. 

Plot for the destruction of certain members of the House of Lords. 

On one occasion the English house of lords was most seriously 
alarmed by the important information given by an Italian, that he 
heard an Irishman, in the street, inform a certain Francisco, in Ita- 
lian, that a plot was laid to kill some members of that house, particu- 
laily the earls of Northumberland, Essex, Holland,* &c. The house 
of lords attached great importance to the affair, and summoned the 
parties to the bar ; but it ended in smoke, after the purposes for which 
it had been fabricated were answered. 

Plot for the assassination of one hundred and eight members of both 
houses of Parliament. 

Of all the informers of those days, a certain Thomas Beal, a taylor, 
merited the palm. None of the confraternity could stand a comparison 
with him. He gave minute details of a plot, in vvhicii one hundred 
and eight persons had engaged to murder as many members of parlia- 
ment. The wages they were to receive for this pleasant and amusing 
business, were very moderate, particularly for the commons, who were 
not valued at more than twenty per cent, of the lords. The latter 
were to be paid for at the rate of ten pounds per man: but the mem- 
bers of the lower house were valued at only forty shillings.! The feats 

— >»»0©*«"— 

• "Jan. 11, 1641-42. This day, one Francis Moor, an Italian, gave in an in- 
formation to the house of lords, that yesterday he stood talking with an Irishman, 
who lives with the lord viscount Loftus, i'w the street, &nA overheard one Briax 
Kellt, an Irishman, servant to the earl of Arundel, speak in Italian ! ! ! to one 
signior Francisco, an Italian, and say, that there was a plot laid to kill some lords of 
the parliament; and in particular named the earl of Northumberland, the earl of 
Essex, the earl of Holland, the earl of Pembroke, and the earl of Leicester. 

" Hereupon, it is ordered, That the said Brian Kelly and signior Francisco shall 
be forthwith apprehended, and attached by the gentleman usher attending this 
house, and brought as delinquents to the bar, which was done accordingly : and 
Brian Kelly being brought to the bar, and charged with the words, he denied that 
he ever spake any such words. Thereupon Moor was called in to confront him, and 
upon oath averred what he had formerly informed." — Nalson, II. 843. 

f " House of Lords, Nov. 15, 1641. Thomas Beal, a taylor, dwelling in White- 
Cross street, was called in, and made a relation of the whole matter, with all the 
circumstances, which were as follows : 

" That this day, at twelve of the clock, he went into the fields, near the Pot- 
house : and walking over a private bank, he heard some talking, but did not see 
them at first : but finding them by the voice, he coming within hearing of them, un- 
derstood they talked of state affairs : and going nearer them, he heard one of them 
say, that it was a wicked thing, that the last plot did not take ; but if this goes on, as 



228 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE. 

were to be performed as the members were coming down stairs 
from the parliament house, or taking their coaches, or going into their 
lodgings ! ! ! 

The idea of a large body of " brave gallants,'''' not, as Sir John 
Falstaff says, "in Kendal green,'" but "in scarlet coats,'^ for the 
purpose of rendering themselves conspicuous, engaged to poignard an 
equal number of members of parliament coming out of the house, or 

—•••>►©©»<♦"— 

in hand and intended, they shall all be made. Heard them say, that there were 
(171 hundred and eigJit men appointed, to tcill an hundred and eigtit persons ^f 
ilie Parliament, every one tds man ! ! ! ! .' some were lords, and others were to be 
members of the house of commons, all puritans ! and the sacrament was to be admi- 
nistered to the hundred and eight men, for performing of this!!! and those that 
killed the lords were to have ten pounds ! ! ! and those that killed the members of 
the house of commons, Jortt/ s/ullinffs .' / That Gorges, being the thirty-seventh 
man, had taken the sacrament on Saturday, to kill one of the house of commons, and 
had received forty shillings! That one Phillips coming to London on Sunday night 
late, was charged to be at my lord's chamber, where was only my lord, father Jones, 
and father Andrews: he also had his charge, and five more with him, he being the 
hundred and eighth man ! and the last, as he thought. 

" That Phillips had been in Warwickshire and Buckinghamshire, with letters: 
and that he delivered letters to Mr. Sheldon, who gave him his dinner and a piece 
for his pains, charging him to make haste to London again, and giving him letters 
to deliver to my lord. 

" That Dick Jones was appointed to kill ttiat rascally puritan, Pym ! and that 
four tradesmen were to Icill the Puritan citizens ivldcli were parliament men. 

" That on the same day, being the 18th of this month, when the city shall be in 
a tumult, there shall be risings in six several parts of this land, by the papists; viz. 
in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Buckinghamshire, Lancashire, and two other 
places which he remembers not. 

" That those that were to kill the lords were brave gallants- in their scarlet 
coats.'.'/ and had received every man ten pounds a-piece!! and when that was 
gone, they might come and fetch more. 

" That this was to be done either coming down stairs ! ! ! or taking their 
coaches ! I or entering into i/ieir lodgings ! ! or any other way, as they should see 
opportunity. 

" That although all were not killed, yet the tumult would be so great, that it 
would prevent sending to Ireland! and that was father Andrews his wit, to prevent 
sending thither ; because if they prevailed there, they should not have cause to fear 
here!" — Nai-sox, II. 646. 

"Nov. 16, 1641. The lords and commons assembled in parliament, having re- 
ceived informations of dangerous designs and practices, by priests and Jesuits, and 
ill-ailected persons, to disturb the peace of this state, and the proceedings of parlia- 
ment, and to attempt upon the persons of many of the members of both houses; 
and well knowing that there is no way to prevent the mischief which the malice of 
such men may suddenly bring upon the realm, to the utter subversion of our reli- 
gion, laws, and liberties, but by putting the kingdom into a posture of defence, and 
so to be ready, upon all occasions, to oppose force to force." — Nalson, II. 649. 

" The commons acquainted their lordships, that they have discovered some things 
further concerning the plot which was related by Beal ; for, upon examination, they 
are informed, that there are two such priests as father Jones and father Andrews ! 
Jones, they understand, is here in town, at the earl of Worcester's house ! and An- 
drews is described to be near fifty years of age, and uses to come much to sir Basil 
Brooke's house ! 

" The house of commons further thinks fit, that a declaration be made that who- 
soever of the hundred and eight men, designed to do this mischief, shall come in and 
discover the same, both houses will be humble suitors to the king, that they may be 
pardoned, and they shall be well rewarded." — Jhid. 



CHAPTER XXI. 229 

going into their carriages, or into their lodgings, the major part for 
only forty shillings a head, would form an admirable episode in baron 
Munchausen. But, absurd and ridiculous as it was, the " greedy maw" 
of public delusion and prejudice cheerfully swallowed it as suitable 
refection for its devouring appetite. 

Shales'' s plot. 

A plot for which sir Henry Beddingfield was apprehended, is equally 
absurd and nonsensical, though not so much detailed. It is impossi- 
ble to conjecture what it means, from the deposition* of the informer 
who communicated the 'important information. But absurd and con- 
temptible as it was, it excited great alarm — and was the subject of 
parliamentary discussion. It is adduced here merely to display the 
folly and stupidity of the contriver, and the encouragement aflbrded to 
informers. 

« Plot in favour of Lord Strafford. 

On the 11th of Jan. 1641-2, when Lord Strafford's fate was depend- 
ing, a great alarm was excited in both houses of parliament, and 
generally in the city of London, by the production of two anonymous 
letters against his enemies, and threatening them with destruction.! 

— •■■>♦© © »««<•.— 

• " William Shales, sergeant of the foot company under the command of sir 
Arthur Loftus, knight, saith, that about the latter end of April last, he being then in 
Norfolk, at Oxborough hall, in the house of sir Henry Beddingfield, the said sir 
Henry, hearing that this examinant was lately come out of Ireland, sent for him into 
his garden, whither when he came,-he found the said sir Henry walking with one 
Poole, (whom this examinant supposeth was a priest) and saith, that as soon as he 
came into the said garden, the said sir Henry asked him whether he knew how the 
state of Ireland then stood 1 To which the examinant said, that he thought that all 
things were quiet and at peace there. Why (quoth sir Henry) doth the army there 
do nothing 1 To which the examinant replied, that they carried themselves quietly, 
and that any man might walk in Ireland with a thousand pounds, and a wand only 
in his hand. He saith also, that the said sir Henry told him, that he was about to 
take a house in Kilkenny, of one of the Butlers, for that there was no safety in 
England for any of his religion ! and asked of the examinant, whether there were any 
good hawking thereabouts! ! To which the examinant said that there was. Then 
the said sir Henry said, that now his mind was altered, and that he meant to stay in 
England ; and added, that he did believe, that before Christmas day next, there 
should be seen such combustions in England and Ireland, as the like were never 
seen before ; and thereupon cursed the Scots as the authors of these troubles. 

WILLIAM SHALES." 

Jurat. Coram nobis, 
James Ware, 
Robert Meredith. 

" Whereupon it was ordered, that sir Henry Beddingfield should be sent for in 
safe custody by the gentleman usher of the house ; and none permitted to speak 
with him, but in the presence of the messenger; and that his study should be scaled 
up by the tv?o next justices of the peace, till the further pleasure of the house be 
known." — Nalson, II. 661. 

f " To the worshipful and my much honoured friend Orlando Bridgman, Esq., a 
burgess of Parliament, at his chamber in the Inner Temple, these present. 
" Sir, 

" We are your friends. These are to advise you to look to yourself, and to advise 



230 vindiclt: hibernic.e. 

Among other miserable tales contained in these letters, one was, that 
10,000 Protestant ministers were ready to unite witli the Roman 
Catholics, to avenge the dislionour of the bishops in being committed 
after their celebrated protest ! ! 

Forged letter respecting the pope's interfering tvith the English par- 
liament. 

A number of priests, condemned to death for exercising their functions 
in England, contrary to the statute, were reprieved by tlie king; their 
execution was called for by the parliament. In order to accelerate 
their fate, and to preclude the chance of escape, .a letter was forged and 
presented to parliament as having come from Venice, in which the 
pope threatened to invade Ireland, unless a change of measures took 
place;* for whenever any sinister object was to be accomplished, 

— ••>»e®e<«" — 

others of my lord Straflbrd's friends to take heed, lest tliey be included in the com- 
mon calamity. Our advice is, to be gone, to pretend business, till the great huyiub 
be past, li'ithdvaiv, lest you suffer u-ilh tlie J'uvilans : we intreat you to send away 
the inclosed letter to Mr. Anderton, inclosed to some trusty friend, that it may be 
carried safoh', without suspicion, for it concerns the common salety. So desire your 
friends in Covcnt-Garden. 

"January 4th, I641-2."t 

" The inclosed was directed, 

" To the worshipful, and my much honoured friend Mr. Anderton. these: 

" Sir — Although many designs have been defeated, yet that of Ireland holds w-ell ; 
and now our last plot works as happily as that of Ireland. Wc must bear with 
something in the man. His will is strong enough, as long as he is fed with hopes. 
I'he woman is true to us, and real: her council about her is very good. I doubt not 
but to send you by the next, very joyful news; for the jiresent am- arch enemies, 
Pym, Hampden, Strode, HoUis, and Ilaslerigg are blemished, ciiurged for no less 
thaJi treason. Before I lurite next, doubt not but to tiave ttiem in the tower, or 
their Iiends fro7n their shoulders ! The solicitor and Fiennes and Earl, we must 
serve with the same sauce: and in the house of lords, the lord Mandeville is touched : 
but Essex, Warwick, Sa}', Brooke, and Paget, must follow, or else we shall not be 
quiet. Falkland and Culpeper are made friends to our side, at leastwise they will 
do us no hurt. Tiie Protestants and Puritans are so divided, iliat we need 7iot 
fear them. The Protestants in great part will join with us, or stand neuters. 
While the Puritan is suppressed, if we can bring them under, the Protestants will 
either fall in with us generally, or else if they do not, they are so indifferent, that 
either by fair or foul means, we shall be able to command them. The mischievous 
Londoners, and the apprentices may do us some hurt for the present ; but we need 
not much fear them. They do nothing orderly but tumultuously ; therefore we 
doubt not much, but to have them imder command after one brunt ; for our party is 
strong in the city, especially Holbourn in the new buildings and M'estminsfer. We 
are ahaid of nothing but the Scots appearing again ; but \\c have made a party there, 
at the king's last being there, which will hold their hands behind them, while we 
act our part at home. Let us acquit ourselves like men, for our religion and coun- 
try, now or never. The tciug^s Iieart is Protestant ; but our friends can perswade 
him, and make him believe any tlung .' He hates the Puritan party, and is made 
irrcconcileable to that side; so that the sun, tlie moon, and the seven stars are for 
us: There are no less than 20,000 7n//iisters in England, the greater half will in 
their places be our friends, to avenge the bishops' dishonour! Let our friends be 
encouraged ; the work is more than half done. 

Your servant, R. E."t 

• "Upon Saturday, February 26, 1641, secretary Nicholas sent a letter to the 
house of commons, which he iiad received lately from a great person in Venice, 

+ Idem, S36. \ Nalson, II. 83G. 



CHAPTER A'XI. 231 

forged letters and plots were called into operation, and always with 
complete efl'ect. The letter carries the stamp of forgery in indelible 
characters. 

Plots of the popes, cardinals and Jesuits, to destroy the Protestant 

religion. 

However incredible it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that many 
well-meaning Protestants have most seriously believed, that the re- 
ligious divisions wliicii arose in Europe after the reformation, were 
produced by the plots and management of the Roman Catholics, par- 
ticulaily the Jesuits; and that from this source sprang the Puritans, the 
most violent enemies the Roman Catholics ever encountered!!! To 
cap the climax, it is asserfed in grave histories, Carte's and Nalson's, 
for instance, that the solemn league and covenant, for " //<e extirpation 
of popery,'^* &c. was a trick of the Roman Catholics ! ! ! ! ! 

A letter obviously fabricated, and pretended to have been written by 
a Jesuit of the name of Malt, at Madrid, to one Iletli, who had become 
a Protestant, or who, according to Nalson, pretended to be a Protestant, 
for the purpose of exciting divisions among the Protestants, contains 
the following paragraph: 

" Brother, 
" Hallingham, Coleman, and Benson, have set a faction among the German 
heretics, so that several who have turned from us, have now denied their baptism, 
which, we hope, will soon turn the scale, and bring them back to their old princi- 
ples. This we have certified to the councils and cardinals, that there is no oilier 
leay to prevent pe'iple from turning heretics, and for the recalling of others bade 
again to the motJier church, than by Ike diversities of doctrines ! ! ! 

"SAM. MALT." — Nalson, I. Int. xlviii. 

Heth was tried and condemned; " and for three days brought to the 
market-place at Rochester, where he stood by the high-cross with a 
paper before his breast, in which were written his crimes; then he 
was pilloried ; and on the last day his ears ivere cut off, his nose slit, 
and his forehead branded with the letter R. and he ivas condemned 
to indure perpetual imprisonment !! ! but it lasted not long; for a few 
months after, he died suddenly, not without suspicion of having 
poisoned himself." — Ibid. 

It is almost too ludicrous for comment, but it must not be passed 
over, that on the assertion that the three Jesuits, whose names are spe- 
cified, have " set a faction among the German heretics," who " have 

— -"»►© © ^*^- — 

giving him to understand, that tlie pope of Itome ivas much incensed at the pro- 
ceedings of this parliament against popish priests and Romish recusants ; and if 
ttiey ?o proceeded, his Jioliness ivonld caiise an arniii to be raised, and sent into 
Ireland, and that the pope takes it ill that the parliament will not discharge the 
seven priests whom his majesty hath reprieved." — Ki shwoutii, IV. 5.58. 

* " It is observable how this covenant was resented abroad by Papists and Pro- 
testants: by Papists -willi infinite joy, in hopes it migitt oblige Jus majesty and 
successors to detest that religioti ivhose zealots have been antliors of such an in- 
tolerant covenant as -was inconsistent -uiitti monarchy ! ! ! The priests and Jesuits 
from Doway and other seminaries, came over in great numbers upon that incourage- 
ment, hoping to find favour; insomuch that his majesty was forced by rigorous pro- 
ceedings to force them to retire. By the Protestants the covenant was received as 
his majesty's public ministers abroad gave him an account, with most offensive 
scandal and grief — IValson, I. 29, 



232 VINDICIJa HIBERNIC.E. 

denied their baptism," Nalson makes a note, in which he unquali- 
fiedly asserts, that " the Jesuits were the authors of the sect of ana- 
baptists! l"" [Idem, xlvii.] This, truly, displays a most wonderful 
degree of sagacity. It is difficult to say to what extent a man may 
carry his credulity, who reposes faith in such a puerile conceit. 

" The reader," observes Dr. Nalson, with profound wisdom, " is 
desired seriously to observe, that the Jesuits, pope, and cardinals have 
laid this down as a maxim, that divisions and separations are the 
most effectual way to introduce popery, and ruin the protcstant re- 
ligion.'''* — Idem, xlvi. 

He further gravely informs us that the Roman Catholics ^^ joined 
hands with the Furitans'^-f to destroy the established religion ! ! Thil 
is a bright idea, and about as probable as tliat Bonaparte set Moscow 
on fire — or that the Cortes of Spain called* in the aid of the duke of 
Angouleme. 

Carte has copied the silly story of the origin of the covenant having 
been popish; that it was received with joy by the papists !J and that 
in consequence of it, numbers of priests and Jesuits came over to 
England ! 

" ,/l large particular discovery of the plot and treason against the 
king, kingdom, and Protestant religion, and to raise the Scottish 
wars.'''' 

Such is the caption of a long, desultory narrative of a plot, pre- 
tended to be discovered in 1640, by one Andreas ab Habernfield, at 

—. «►«©»•«•— 

• " What is observable in this narrative is the original of separate congregations, 
of extempore prayer, the vilifying the public church service, stiling it English mass, 
the pretences to the Spirit, the denying the king's supremacy, despising lawful ordi- 
nation, and hcenses to preach in stated parochial congregations, the juggling people 
out of their money and their loj^alty, are all arro-ws that originally came out of i tie 
Romisli quiver ! and that there can be no doubt, but ever since this man's success, 
the pope and college de propaganda fide, the Jesuits and priests have been indus- 
trious to improve this advantage, and to stock us with disguised emissaries, who in- 
crease oar differences, and exasperate all ilie separations against ttie clnircti of 
England, in tiopes by onr division to destroy butli ! /" — Idem, xliii. 

" From this narrative we may observe, that ilie chief rise and wiginal of our un- 
tiappy divisions and separations is to be fetcttt from ike devilisfi policy of t tie Pa- 
pists ! ! counterfeiting a design to advance tlie reformation of the Protestant religion 
to a greater purity ; that the pope, cardinals and Jesztits, tiave been always instru- 
mental in raising tliese divisions and separations ! and that they judge this the 
most eflectual way to introduce popery ; that they hate our bishops and prayers, and 
delude innocent and unwary people into a dislike and hatred of them ; that there is 
no way to discover them, but by their sowing these seeds of separation and sedition ; 
and that therefore it is the interest of all true Protestants to unite with the church 
of England, and thereby give that deadly blow to the Komanists, which the bishop 
here seems prophetically to foretel, and to quit these separations, which otherwise 
will hazard the ruin of Protestant religion, by the introduction of popery." — Idem, 
xlviii. 

+ " Ttie papists -Mho early perceived, iliere tvas no sitcli certain -way to ruin tlie 
Jieformaiio7i * * * laid hold immediately of this opportunity, and entering in at the 
back door of schism and separation,, /oniec/ liands ivith the non-conforming Puritans, 
to bring ruin and desolation upon tJie church and kingdom." — Nalson, I. introd. 
xxxviii. 

\ " This covenant gave great offence to the French and other Protestant churches 
abroad, fearing it would bring an indelible scandal upon their religion, and alienate 
the minds of princes from it; but as its original iras popish, it was received with 
infinite joy by the papists." — Cartk, I. 89. 



CHAPTEU XXL 233 

the Hague, and communicatetl to William Boswell, an agent of the 
British government there. It occupies no less than fourteen folio 
pages in Nalson's Collections, and is as implicitly credited by the 
historian, as if it had been established by the most unexceptionable 
evidence ; and yet it carries fraud, falsehood, and forgery stamped on 
its forehead in unerring characters.* The idea of a Jesuit preparing 
a '■'■poisoned nuV for the purpose of destroying king Charles, and 
'■'often showing^^ this very precious article to a suspicious stranger, 
in " a boasting manner,'''' has quite the air of an Arabian Tale, and 
must excite contempt for the folly, and indignation for the wickedness 
of the contriver. 

" Snares are prepared for the king. For this purpose the present business was 
so ordered, that very many of the English should adhere to the Scots ; that the king 
should remain inferior in arms, who thereupon shojild be compelled to crave as- 
sistance fi-07n the Papists, which yet he should not obtain, unless he would conde- 
scend unto conditions, by which he should permit universal liberty of the exercise 
of the popish religion ; for so the affairs of the Papists would succeed according to 
their desire. To which consent, if he should show himself more difficult, there 
should be a present remedy at hand : for the king's son growing now very fast to 
his youtiiful age, (who is educated from his tender age, that he might accustom 
himself to the popish party,) the king is to be dispatched ; for an Indian nut, 
stuffed -with moat sharp poison, is kept in itie society ! ! ! (Tvhicli Cunerts at that 
time showed often to me in a boasting inanner ! ! !) wherein a poison was pre- 
pared for the king, after the example of his father !" — Frakklaxd, 863. 

This plot was communicated to archbishop Laud by Mr. Boswell— 
and was by the archbishop imparted to the king as a matter of extra- 
ordinary importance. The most superficial reader cannot fail to notice 
one gross inconsistency in it. While the heaviest charge against the 
king, and more particularly against the archbishop, was their secret 
attachment to, and encouragement of, the Roman Catholic religion, 
•which, it was asserted, all their measures were calculated to introduce, 
it appears, according to this veracious informant, that the Jesuits were 
plotting to destroy them in order to advance that religion! ! 

Plot for the destruction of Oliver Cromwell, protector. 
In Thurloe's state papers, is a letter giving an account of a plot,t 

* A portion of the heads of this grand conspiracy follows: — 

1. "That the king's majesty and lord archbishop are both of them in great dan- 
ger of their lives. 

2. " That the whole commonwealth is by this means endangered, unless the 
mischief be speedily prevented. 

3. " That these Scottish troubles arc raised, to the end, that under this pretext 
the king and archbishop might be destroyed. 

4. " That although these Scottish tumults be speedily composed, yet that the 
king is endangered, and that there are many ways by which destruction is 'plotted 
to the king and lord archbishop." — Nalsox, I. 471. 

•j- " I met with a poore honest man, a feltmaker, who as he was comeinge from 
Beekington to Bristoll, with a parcell of hatts, was constrained to rest himsclfe un- 
der a stone wall, joyneing to the highway ; and as he satt ther, two gentlemen-like 
men met each other, and after a salutation past betweene them, the one asked the 
other what newes. The other answered, that he knew none. Thereupon one re- 
plyed, and tould the other, seeinge he was his speciall friende, he would acquaint 
him of very good newes; and that was, that he sayd he came lately from Southamp- 
ton, where he met with a French merchant, borne in France, of English parents, 
and his wife, a French woman, whose brother .was a Jesuite ; and did affirme, that 

30 



234 VINDICLE HIBEKNIC^. 

oveiheard by a man who had " retired to rest under a stone wall," 
for the destruction of the protector, intended to strengthen the hands 
of that hypocrite. It excited considerable sensation, and answered the 
purpose intended. 

Titus Oaies''s plot. 

Shaftesbury, one of tlie most profligate politicians that ever dis- 
graced or embroiled a nation, was incessant in his endeavours to have 
James II. excluded from the succession to the throne of Great Britain 
— and by his consummate craft and influence in parliament, carried a 
number of measures, which tended towards that end. Nothing could 
so completely promote that object as overwhelming the Roman Catho- 
lics with obloquy, and exciting against them the hatred and abhorrence 
of their fellow subjects. To this sinister purpose all his talents and 
energies were directed. In this career he was not withheld by any 
scruples, or any nefarious consequences, even the shedding of inno- 
cent blood. Ilis conscience was of the most accommodating charac- 
ter, and was seared as with a hot iron against the inroads of remorse. 
It never unkindly interposed any scruples in his way. To him the 
end in view, however unjust, sanctified the means, however atrocious 
or wicked. 

Under the auspices of this Machiavel, Titus Gates, one of the worst 
of men — a protege worthy of such a patron — anno 1678, lodged in- 
formation of a plot against a number of the most respectable of the Ro- 
man Catholic nobility and gentry of England, in conjunction with the 
Jesuits in foreign countries, for the murder of the king — the destruc- 
tion of the established religion — and the introduction of that of the 
conspirators.* There was the utmost incoherence in the story. He 
was guilty of the most manifest perjury; as, at difl'erent times, he 



cerliiiiie Jesuits had idken an oath and the sacrament, and thereby bound them- 
selves to kill the lord protector, or to loose their oivne lives ! ! ! and that beingc 
done, he sayd there would he greate confusion and fighting for the government, by 
which meanes Charles the second's party beinge greate, would strike in, and carry 
the cause. 7'lie other partie replyed, it would doe well, if.it could be effected ; only 
hee could wish the common people might not be made to suffer much: but the other 
told him, the kingdome would be brought into a poore condition. After this, they 
saluted one another, and departed. The poorc man overhearinge all this discourse, 
he was in such a tremblinge, that he durst not appeare to spcake, for feare of niis- 
ciiiefe, because they had uttered such horrible thinges ; but when they were gone, 
he lookt after them, but knew them not ; only wearc in a gentile habit, and gray 
cloathes." — TiirnLOE, II. 178. 

* " Dates, the informer of this dreadful plot, was himself THE MOST INFA- 
MOUS OF MANKIND. He was the son of an Anabaptist preacher, chaplain to 
colonaJ Pride; but having taken orders in the church, he had been settled in a small 
living by the duke of Norfolk. He had been indicted for perjury, and by some 
means had escaped. He was afterwards a chaplain on board the fleet, whence he 
had been dismissed, on complaint of some unnatural practices, not fit to be named." 
— HuMK, IV. 315. 

" Such bountiful encouragement brought forth new witnesses. William Bedlow, 
a man, if possible, more infamous than Gates!!.' appeared next upon the stage. 
He was of very low birth ; had been noticed for several cheats, and eve?! thefts! 
had travelled over many parts of Europe, under borrowed names! and frequently 
passed himself for a man of quality, and liad endeavoured by a variety of lies and 
contrivances, to preij upon the ignorant and univary!" — Idem, 322. 



CHAPTER XXI. 235 

swore to things diametrically opposite to each other — one of which 
must necessarily, and both probably, have been false. His testimony 
was contradicted in the most unequivocal manner by numbers of wit- 
nesses of perfecdy irreproachable character. But such were the delu- 
sion and insanity of the moment, that every thing he averred was re- 
ceived with as much faith as a true Mussulman receives the koran.* 

— "►►ee««'— 

• " The wonderful intelligence, which Gates conveyed both to Godfrey and the 
council, and afterwards to the parliament, was to this purpose. The pope, he said, 
on examining the matter in the congregation de propaganda, had found himself en- 
titled to ike possessioti of ETigland and Ireland, on account of the heresy of prince 
and people! ! I and had accordingly assumed the sovereignty of these kingdoms. 
This supreme power he had thought proper to delegate to the society of Jesuits ; 
and de Oliva, general of that order, in consequence of the papal grant, had exerted 
every act of regal authority, and particularly had supplied by commissions, under 
the seal of the society, all the chief offices, both civil and military. Lord Arundel 
was created chancellor, lord Powis treasurer, sir William Godolphin privy seal, 
Coleman secretary of state, Langhorne attorney-general, lord Bellasis general of 
the papal army, lord Peters lieutenant-general, lord Stafford paymaster : and inferior 
commissions, signed by the provincial of the Jesuits, were distributed all over Eng- 
land. All the dignities of the church were filled, and many of them with Spaniards 
and other foreigners. The provincial had held a consult of the Jesuits, under his 
authority, where the king, whom they opprobriously called the black bastard, was 
solemnly tried and condetnned as a heretic' and a resolution taken to put him to 
death. Father Le Shee (for so this great plotter and informer called father La 
Chaise, the noted confessor of the French king) had consigned in London, ten 
thousand pounds, to be paid to any man xvlio should merit it by this assassinatiori.'/ 
A Spanish provincial had expressed like liberality : the prior of the Benedictines, 
was willing to go to the length of six thousand: the Dominicans approved of the 
action, but pleaded poverty. Ten thousand powids Jiad been offered to sir George 
Wakeman, the qiiee?i's physician, who demanded fifteen thousand, as a reward 
for so great service.'.' his demand was complied with; and fi've tliousand had been 
paid him, by advance! Lest this means should fail, four Irish ruflians had been 
hired, by the Jesuits, at the rate of twenty guineas apiece, to stab the king at Wind- 
sor; and Coleman, secretary to the late duchess of York, had given the messenger, 
who carried their orders, a guinea, to quicken his diligence. Grove and I'ickering 
■were also employed, to shoot the king with silveh. mullets ! ! the former was to 
receive the sum of fifteen hundred pounds; the latter, being a pious man, was to be 
rewarded with thirty thousand masses, which, estimating masses at a shilling 
apiece, amounted to a like value!!! Pickering would have executed his purpose 
had not the flint at one time, dropped out of his pistol, at another time the priming. 
Coniers, the Jesuit, had bought a knife, at the price of ten shillings, which he 
thought was not dear, considering the purpose for which he intended it, to wit, 
stabbing the king. Letters of subscription were circulated among the Catholics, all 
over England, to raise a sum for the same purpose. No less than fifty Jesuits had 
met, in May last, at the White-horse tavern, where it was urianitnously agreed to 
put the king to death! This synod did, afterwards, for more convenience, divide 
themselves into many lesser cabals or companies : and Gates was employed to carry 
notes and letters from one to another, all tending to the same end, of murdering the 
king ! He even carried from one company to another, a paper, in which they for- 
mally expressed their resolution of executing that deed, and it was regularly sub- 
scribed by all of them. Jl wager of an hundred pounds was laid, and stakes made, 
that the king should eat no more Christmas pies! In short, it was determined, 
to use the expression of a Jesuit, that if he would not become R. C. (Roman Ca- 
tholic) he should no longer be C. R. (Charles Rex.) 

" The great fire at London had been the work of the Jesuits, who had employed 
eighty or eighty-six persons, for that purpose, and had expended seven hundred fire 
balls! but they had a good return for their money, for they had been able to pilfer 
goods from the fre, to the amount of fourteen thousand pounds! the Jesuits had. 



236 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC.^. 

Many well-intentioned men were liurried along with the torrent of 
popular delusion, which was so violent that those who dared to assert 
any doubt of the reality of the plot were regarded with suspicion, and 
incurred the risk of being involved in the accusation. Under these 
circumstances trial and condemnation were nearly synonymous. Num- 
bers of persons of the most estimable characters, and of the most im- 
maculate loyalty, were immolated as victims to his perjury — among 
whom none was more sincerely regretted than lord Statford, an aged 
and venerable nobleman, utterly incapable of the crime ibr which he 
suffered. 

The original depositions were taken before sir Edmondbury God- 
frey, who, shortly afterwards, was found dead in a ditch, with his 
sword stuck in his body. The mode in which, and the persons by 
whom, he came to an untimely end, are still, I believe, involved in 
mystery. The odium, however, fell on the Roman Catholics, which 
wonderfully advanced the purposes of Shaftesbury and his precious 
partner in iniquity, and inilamed the passions of the great and little 
vulgar into the utmost ferocity against those obnoxious religionists. A 
very slight reflexion will satisfy any candid man, that it is utterly 
improbable, that tliey could have been the perpetrators of the nefa- 
rious act; as his death could not possibly answer any valuable pur- 
pose whatever for them: nor could his taking the examinations, which 
was an imperious duty, that he could not refuse, be with them a cause 
of complaint. Had Tilus Oates been killed, suspicion might, not 
unreasonably, attach to them ; as they might suppose his death would 
suppress the evidence against them. 

On the accession of James If. he was tried — foinid guilty of per- 
jury on the evidence of sixty persons, nine of them Protestants — sen- 
tenced to be repeatedly pilloried — to lose his ears — and to be imprison- 
ed for life, t 

—•■►►»©»«<•— 

also, raised another fire, on St. Margaret's Hill, whence they had stolen goods to 
the value of two thousand pounds ; another at Southwark : and it was determined, 
in like manner, to burn all tlie chief cities in England. A paper model was already 
framed, for the firing of London ; the stations were regularly marked out, where the 
several fires were to commence; and the whole plan of operations was so concerted, 
that precautions were taken, by the Jesuits, to vary their measures, according to the 
variation of the wind. Fire balls were familiarly called among them Teuxbui-y 
mustard pills ; and were said to contain a notable biting sauce. In the great fire, 
it had been determined to murder the king; but he had displayed such diligence and 
humanity, in extinguishing the flames, that even the Jesuits relented, and spared 
his life. 

" Besides these assassinations and fires, insurrections, rebellions, and massacres, 
were projected, by that religious order, in all the three kingdoms. There were 
twenty thousand Catholics in London, who would rise, in four and twenty hours, 
or less ; and Jennison, a Jesuit, said, that thoy might easily cut the throats of a 
hundred thousand Protestants! Eight thousand Catholics had agreed to take 
arms in Scotland. Ormond was to be murdered by four Jesuits ; a general massacre 
of the Irish Protestants was concerted ; and forty thousand black bills were already 
provided for that purpose. Coleman had remitted tivo hundred thousand pounds, 
to promote the rebellion in Ireland; and the French king was to land a great army 
in that island. — Poole, who wrote the Synopsis, was particularly marked out for as- 
sassination, as was also Dr. Stillingfieet, a controversial writer against the papists." 
—Hume, IV. 313. 

f " The notorious Titus Oates was, soon after the accession of James, convicted 
of perjury, upon the evidence of above sixty reputable witriesses, of -whom niiie 



CHAPTER XXi. 237 

When William came to the throne, " the house of lords, with the 
consent of the commons," to the eternal disgrace of both houses, " re- 
commended him to the king for a pardon! T^ [HhjME, V. 37.] This 
was accorded, and, O shame where is thy blush ? the wretch had a 
pension of 400/. per annum settled on him for life by William ! Duly 
weighed in the scales of reason, this transaction is more flagitious-, 
than the public acquiescence in his perjuries at the moment they were 
uttered; for all history proves that in times of great excitement, an epi^ 
demical and moral insanity too frequently prevails, which so far deprives 
even good men temporarily of their reason, as to leid them to do and 
to acquiesce in acts at which, in their cooler moments, they would 
shudder. But this pardon and this annuity were bestowed when ali 
the effervescence had subsided, and when the turpitude of Oates's 
conduct had been exposed, naked, in the glare of day, in all its hide- 
ous deformity to the loathing and detestation of the upright of all 
nations. The stain, therefore, on parliament and king can never be 
effaced. 

The following cases fully prove that the English judiciary, though 
so extravagantly eulogized, was then in so deplorable a state, — so lost 
were the judges to every sense of honour and rectitude, — and so seal- 
ed was the fate of the miserable men brought — not to trial, but to con- 
demnation, that the evidence of the most notorious perjurers was 
received, in capital cases, and was allowed to huriy the victims to 
the gallows, 

" With all their sins and imperfections on their heads." 

In order to substantiate this charge against the English judiciary, at 
that period of delusion, and to prove the extent to which the violation 
of the first principles of justice was carried, when Roman Catholics 
were in question, the following case is given, although strictly speak- 
ing, somewhat foreign from the subject of this chapter. 

Seven priests were indicted together at the Old Bailey, in the year 
1679, for treasoi , in exercising their sacerdotal functions in England, 
contrary to the statute, which declared this a capital offence. The 
principal evidence against them was Bedlow, whose evidence should 
not have been taken against a notorious felon. 

On the trial of Lionel Anderson, the first of the number, Bedlow 
was detected in open court, in a most manifest and flagrant perjury. 
He had sworn that Anderson was the son of a gentleman in Oxford- 
shire, and that HE KNEW HIM AND HIS FATHER WELL. 
The lord chief baron, who happened to be then in court, was acquaint- 
ed with the accused, who immediately appealed to him to prove that 

— '">»8® 9 t "'' 

■were protestants. He was sentenced to pay a fine of two thousand marks ; to be 
stripped of his canonical habit; to be whipped twice in three days by the common 
hangman; and to stand in the pillory at Westminster-hall gate, and at the royal 
exchange. He -was, moreover, to be pilloried five times every year, and to be im- 
prisoned during' life. The hangman performed his otTice with uncommon rigour. 
Ttie best thing James ever did, -was punisliing Oates for Ids perjury ; and the 
greatest thing Oates ever did, was supporting himself under the most afflictive part 
of his punishment with the resolution and constancy of a martyr. ^ pensimi of 
400?. a year -was conferred npon tlds miscreant by king William ! ! /" — Granger, 
IV. 348. 



238 VINDICIJE HIBERNIC^. 

he was the son of a gentleman in Lincolnshire ; which the baron 
accordingly testified. The case-hardened Bedlow, no ways abashed, 
stated that he had his information, as to the place of Anderson's birth, 
FROM MY LORD privy-seal's NEPHEW 1 notwithstanding the atrocious 
villain had, a few minutes before, positively sworn that he knew him 
well !* 

This manifest perjury, for which, had not the chief justice been al- 
most as wicked as the informer, Bedlow ought to have been immedi- 
ately indicted, brought to the bar, tried, sentenced, and cropped, was 
disregarded. He received no rebuke from the complaisant court. His 
evidence, as if he had been one of the most immaculate men in ex- 
istence, an Arislides, or a Socrates, was received during the remainder 
of the trial of Anderson, and of Corker which followed. The unfor- 
tunate men were all found guilty, on the testimony of Bedlow, and 
other wretches, equally profligate: and, although the state trials make 
no mention of the final result, as to their fate, it can scarcely be doubt- 
ed, from the temper of the times, that they were hanged. 

Who can read this statement without horror? Who can regard 
otherwise than as a mere slaughter-house, a court of justice, where, 
on the trial of a number of men for their lives, merely for the worship 
of the Living God, the judge acts the part of the public accuser;! 
where the witnesses for the accused are almost torn to pieces by the 
mob ;:j: and where the evidence is unhesitatingly received, of a wretch 

* " Bedlcnv. He is a priest and an Englishman, if his mother was honest, and he 
honestly born; for he is .Mr. .ludersoji's 507;, oyOXFOIlDSHIRE, a gentleman of 
two or three hundred pounds a year ; I KNOW HIM AND HIS FATHER VERY 
WELL. 

" Anderson. My lord, could I but apprehend that I lay under so great a guilt, as 
to have been acquainted with so great a rogue as this fellow is, I would have been 
my own executioner, and not have expected my sentence at this bar. 

" L. C. J. Do you know him well 1 

"Bedlow. Very well, both him and his father. His father is an Oxfordshire 
gentleman. 

"■ .inderson. Now I think I shall prove the rogue perjured. Is my lord chief 
baron in the court 1 

" Court. Yes, he is. 

" Anderson. Why then my father has the honour of being well known to his 
lordship, who knows this to be false. 

" L. C. Baron. No, no, Mr. Bedlow, he is a gentleman's son of qualitii in 
LINCOLNSHIRE. 

" -L. C. J. You are mistaken, you are mistaken, his father is a LINCOLN- 
SHIRE gentleman. 

" Anderson. And yet this rogue is upon his oath ; but indeed all his life is full 
of such mistakes. 

" Bedlow. I don't know. JMy lord privu-seurs nephew told me so ! ! /" — State 
Trials, folio. Vol. II. p. 993. 

+ " The chief justice gave sanction to all the 7iarrow prejudices and bigoted 
fury of tlte populace. Instead of being counsel for the prisoners, as his office re- 
quired, HE PLF.ADEij THE CAUSE AGAINST THEM ; hrowbcat their witnesses ; and on 
every occasion represented their guilt as certain and uncontroverted T' — Hume, 
IV. 329. 

\ " When verdict was given against the prisoner, the spectators expressed their 
savage joy, by loud acclamations. The witnesses, on approaching the court, were 
almost torn in pieces by the rabble. One, in particular, was bruised to such a 
degree as to put Ids life in danger ; and another, a woman, declared that, unless 



CHAPTER XXL 239 

whose perjury is as clear as the noon-day sun ; who is caught fla- 
grante delicto ; and whose confession of the hideous crime is made in 
open court? Never was human nature much more debased and de- 
graded ! Never did man make much nearer approaches to the demo- 
niac character! Eternal infamy ought to attach to the court, the jury, 
and the blood-thirsty mob, great and small, high and low, by whom 
they were surrounded. These facts have imprinted a stain on the 
escutcheon of the English judiciary, which time can never efTace. 

To this case let me add another of a similar character. A certain 
Andrew Brommitch, a priest, was, in the same year 1679, tried for 
high treason, in celebrating mass, contrary to the statute. It required 
two witnesses. There was one who swore positively to the celebra- 
tion, and another circumstantially. The judge, the infamous Scroggs, 
thirsting for the blood of the victim, closed his charge to the jury 
thus — " Gentlemen, I must leave it to you, whether or no you believe 
the testimony of this real positive witness, and the circumstantial 
evidence of the other man ; for you see in what danger we are. I leave 
it to your consciences, whether you will let priests escape, who are 
the very pests and danger of church and state!. Yon had BETTER 
BE RID OF ONE FRIEST THAN THREE FELONS!!! So, 
gentlemen, I leave it to you ! ! ! [Idem, 965.] The man was, as 
may be supposed, brought in guilty, and hanged, drawn, and quar- 
tered!! I 

Plot for the destruction of Charles II. 

During the reign of Charles II. a plot was fabricated, of which the 
object was pretended to be to kill the king. 

Lord Castlemain was among the parties accused. [Idem, Vol. 
III. p. 36.] The details were of the most absurd and incredible char- 
acter. I forbear to give the particulars, as they partake of the folly 
and inconsistency of those I have stated at some length. I merely 
introduce, it for the purpose of presenting to the reader, the principal 
evidence, one Dangerfield, a most profligate and worthless villain.* 
There were sixteen recoids of convictions produced in court, to prove 
that he was not a competent witness. — Idem, p. 52. He had been 
convicted of felony ; had broken prison ; been outlawed ; branded in the 
hand ; been four times convicted of forging the coin ; once as a common 
cheat; been each time put in the pillory; and 'been guilty of almost 
every species of crime : but such was the abandoned character of the 

— ..»s®e««' — 

the court could afford her protection, she durst not give evidence. But as tha 
judges could" [would, more properly] " go no further than promise to punish such 
as should do her any injury, the prisoner himself had the humanity to waive her 
testimony." — Idem, 342. 

* " The nation had gotten so much into the vein of credulity, and every neces- 
sitous villain ivas so much incited by the success of Oates aud Bedloiv, that even 
during the prorogation, the people were not allowed to remain in tranquillity. There 
was one Dangerfield, a fellow tvho had been burned iu ttie hand for crimes ; trans- 
ported ; -whipped; pilloried four times ; fi7ied for cheats; outlaxued fir felony ; 
convicted of coining ; exposed to all tlie public infamy -which the laws could inflict 
on tlie basest and most shameful enormities .' / The credulity of the people, and 
the humour of the times, enabled even this man to become a person of consequence." 
—Hume, IV. 349. 



240 VINDICLE HiBEimiCE. 

court, so' completely poisoned were the streams of justice, and so 
violent was tlie rage against the accused, that these solid objections 
were all overruled, and his evidence received as if he had been the 
most immaculate character in the nation. 

On this trial, a ludicrous opinion was given by the judges of the 
Common Pleas, who were consulted by lord Raymond, whether a 
pardon, which had been granted to Dangertield, rendered his evidence 
admissible ? " They say," states lord Raymond, " that if he had been 
convicted of felony, and not burnt in the hand, the pardon woidd not 
have set him vpright : but being convicted and biamt in the hand, 
they suppose he is a witness! ! !" [Idem, page 47.] Thus being 
" burnt in the hand" purified the miscreant from the stains of his 
manifold crimes, and rendered him a competent Avitness in a case 
of life and death ! ! Has the world ever heard of a more disgraceful 
judicial opinion 1 

Having now fully established the sinister proceedings in England, 
with respect to forgery, perjury, and fabricated plots, for the purposes 
of gratifying lawless ambition and a thirst of vengeance — as well as 
the callous indrft'erence with which human life was immolated to 
answer those ends, I now proceed to prove the existence of the same 
horrible spirit in Ireland, where there was a powerful motive in opera- 
tion, Avhich either did not exist at all, or in a very slender degree in 
England — that is, the spirit of rapine, and the spoils of the men mur- 
dered under the pretence of justice. Where ambition, revenge, and a 
thirst of spoil united their influence, it is easy to perceive how wide a 
range their votaries must have taken, what havoc they must have made, 
what plunder they must have acquired, and now much misery and 
wretchedness they must have inflicted, more especially as they were 
not only not restrained, but absolutely patronised and encouraged, in 
Ireland by the parliament,* and by men of overwhelming infl.uence in 

— "►>© ® *^*e.— 

* " The house, to throw an odium upon that nation, and prejudice them in the 
opinion of the world, as well as of his majesty, before whom their all lay at stake, 
would tteeds infer a formed des/' ff7i of an insiirredlon. All the foundation for this 
insinuation was, that there had been of late meetings of the poor Irish at masses in 
order to partalie of a jubilee the pope had sent them. But the whole kingdom knew 
they were in no condition to rebel, nor was it likely they should attempt it at a 
time, when they were suing for grace and favour from his majesty. Sir M. Eustace, 
the lord chancellor, a. man of great virtue and integrity, who wished well to a true 
loyal English interest, and not to a pretended one of disaffected and unconformable 
upstarts, was persuaded of the injustice, as well as the design of this charge against 
the Irish ;and to discover what ground there was for it, directed the judges, in their 
circuits, to cause the matter to be inquired into by the grand juries of the several 
counties through which they passed. The finding of those juries was alike in all 
places ; there being a great calm every -where, no preparation for a risi^ig, nor so 
much as a rumoitr ofani/ ne-uv irovbles. Nothing could be more frivolous and void 
of proof, than the paper which the commons drew up on this subject." — Cakte, 
11.231. 

" Ic 7i'as thovg-ht politic to have recourse to one [a sham plot] in the present 
exigence. For this purpose a committee was appointed to inquire into informations 
against the Irish, and the danger of the kingdom from them. Informations of one 
sort or other will never be wanting, when it is the interest of men in power to 
encourage them ! and tliey are sure to be received xvith favour, and sivallotved 
ivithoiU examination, however trifling, ridiculous, and improbable I" — Idem, 223. 



CHAPTER XXI. 241 

« 
England. Every man possessed of a sound mind and a feeling heart, 
must be inflamed with a holy indignation and abhorrence of the mis- 
creants, the agents in these atrocities, and of the greater miscreants by 
whom they were instigated. 

So far as Ireland is concerned. Carte has furnished us with a com- 
plete clue to these plots, which the reader is requested to bear in mind 
constantly in the perusal of the succeeding chapters of this work; as 
it clears up a variety of difficulties, otherwise insuperable. " There 
were," he observes, " too many Protestants in Ireland who wanted 
another rebellion, that they might increase their estates by new ybr- 
/ei7/<res."— Carte, II. 482. 

As this is a point of great magnitude, and the pivot on which a large 
portion of the aff'airs of Ireland turned, for an entire century, I shall 
furnish more copious proofs from Carte,* Leland,t and the duke of 
Ormond,J than on any point of minor importance. 

The success of Shaftesbury's pernicious schemes in England encou- 
raged him to pursue the same plan in Ireland to fabricate plots in order 
to favour his views in the'former country. Informers were sought out 
with great zeal. The subornatioh of witnesses was carried on in the 
most barefaced and scandalous manner. They were taken from the 
lowest ranks of society, men of the most profligate characters, destitute 
of fame and fortune. The wretched people accused, were conveyed 
to London, to be tried, where they could have little or no opportunity 
to prove their innocence. The witnesses against them, allured by the 
hope of a reward, to perjure themselves, were forwarded there, and 
were fostered, and protected, and paid, and clothed, and fed, by the 

— ...►0©S«<« — 

* " These proceedings insinuating the design of a new rebellion, were founded 
upon very slight grounds ; but there are certain subjects of so odious or unpopular a 
nature, that few men dare, in public assemblies, ofler to stem the torrent, and speak 
their minds about them with freedom. Of this nature xvas every motion, express- 
ing a distrust of the papists, atid loading them ivith rebellions designs ; so that 
though the letters wluch served as a foundation to tlieir votes, -were a riiere con- 
trivance and TALPAisLE FORGEKT, nobody (cxcept the lord Strabane) seems to have 
expressed their dissatisfaction as to the proof and truth of them, or to have made 
any attempt to vindicate the papists from a charge so weakly supported, and so very 
improbable in the present situation of the kingdom." — Idem, 238. 

" Reports [were] spread by these agents and their creatures, as if the Irish Roman 
Catholics were ready to raise a new rebellion in that country. Tins ivas a thing 
itnpossible to be conceived by any body that knew the real state and miserable con- 
dition of those people at this time in Ireland." — Idem, 205. 

•j- " Tliey revived the mmours of neiv plots and conspiracies ; received informa- 
tions of many dark designs and suspicious proceedings of the Irish ; alarmed the 
government with the danger of public commotions; and, though all their industry 
could produce no material discoveries, yet it served their purpose of loading an ob- 
noxious party with additional odium, at a time when they were to contend with 
them for estates and settlements." — Leland, IV. 135. 

t "Those that went out of Ireland with bad Englisli and ivorse clothes, are re- 
turned luell-bred gentlemen, xvell carronated, periiuigg'd and clothed. Brogues 
and leat/ter straps are converted to fasldonable shoes and glittering buckles; 
which, next to the zeal tories, thieves, and friars have for the protestant religion, ia 
a main inducement to bring in a shoal of informers. But we have erected alderman 
Rp.dcr to the dignity of being our justice Warcap, and send them all to him. The 
worst is, they are so miserably poor, that we are fain to give them some allowance • 
and they find it more lionourable and safe to be /cing's evidence, than a co-wsteater. 
though that be their natural profession ." — Lord Ohmond, apud Carte, II. App 

31 



^, r 



242 VINDICI^ HIBEKNICJE. 

» 

agent of lord tShai'tesbury, by wliom they were instructed what to 
swear. '^ 

In one instance, the remorse of the principal suborned evidence, 
who confessed his perjury, and some fortunate circumstances that 
withheld the others, rescued a number of innocent people from the 
f^allows for which they had been destined.t 'i'lie same good fortune 
did not attend others of the objects of Shaftesbury's schemes. Among 
the sufferers, the case of Oliver Plunket, primate of Ireland, excited 
the most sympathy, as one of the most severe. He was accused of a 
plot to raise by the contributions of the Catholic clergy, 70,000 men, 
who were to be joined by 20,000 French troops, and to rise in rebel- 
lion, to overthrow the government. The witnesses in his defence did 
not arrive in time, having been detained by contrary winds. The trial 
nevertheless proceeded without delay. The primate had no means 
therefore of disproving the allegations — and was of course found guilty 
and hanged. He protested his innocence to the last.J 

— "»©©»«<•— _f 

_ * " There is something odd enough in sending of such numbers of miserable 
vvrctclies from Ireland, to serve in England, /br ~u'if?iesses of a plot, of -which they 
kne-iu 7iothing till they -were instructed by JYTr. lletlierington, lord Shaftesbury'' i 
cliief ngent in managing and providing for them." — Carte, II. 517. 

" These fellows who went out of their own country poor and half naked, returned 
thither again tvell equipped in clotties and flush of mo7iey,\\?L\mg met with plentiful 
contributions and ample rewards for -wtiat tliey had been there taught to depose .'" 
—Ibid. 

" Anottier fello-iu employed to pick up ivitnesses for the plot, and to bring them 
over to England, to be tutored aud instructed tliere, (for the men taken up, when 
they appeared before the council, generally professed they knew nothing of the 
matter,) was one James Gcoghegan, alias Dalton." — Idem, 513. 

+ " Shaftesbury now boasted that he could produce important discoveries of an 
Irish plot. It was resolved to try the culprits in London. Fitzgerald was sent for ; 
and though he attempted to escape, was forcibly dragged to give his evidence in 
liondon. 

" But one witness, however credible, was not sufficient. More were sought for; 
nor was it extraordinary, nor is it any fair ground for national reflection, that un- 
common industry and encouragement procured some more witnesses in Ireland. 
Some of the inferior Popish clergy, of extreme poverty and profligate lives, con- 
sented to become informers. The haunts of tories were successfully ransacked for 
others; and all these men suddenly appeared in London, not in their original state 
of meanness and barbarism, but in a decent garb, and with the appearance even of 
affluence. Happily the persons accused by Fitzgerald escaped by the remorse of their 
accuser ; who, at length, freelj' acknowledged the baseness and falsehood of his in- 
formations." — Leland, IV. 193. 

^ " Oliver Plunket, the popish archbishop of Armagh, was not so fortunate. He 
succeeded Reilly in this station: and during the government of lord Essex, lived 
quietly in Ireland, recommending a peaceable submission to government, and ex- 
pressing his abhorrence of all political intrigues. He even exerted his spiritual 
authority to restrain the turbulent temper of Peter Talbot, and to conline him within 
the duties of his profession. But some of the inferiors of his clergymen, of lewd 
lives and brutal manners, were provoked by his censures and correction, and formed 
the design of accusing him. 

" He was conveyed to London ; but, as these evidences had neither honesty to 
swear the truth, nor sense to devise a consistent tale, their first attempt was de- 
feated. The juiy, even in those days of passionate credulity, could not find a bill 
against Plunket. But the informers gained some accomplices, they framed their 
accusations anew, and made another attack. Plunket was accused of obtaining his 
title and station for the purpose, and on an express compact, af raising seventy 
thousand men in Ireland by the contributions of tlie popish clergy, rv/iose vhole 



CHAPTER XXr. 243 

Plot for a general massacre of the Protestants of Ireland in 1670, 

At every step of our progress in detailing those transcendently 
wicked schemes, the readei" must be petrified with astonishment, at 
the folly of the fabricators, and the Gullibility of the public. How- 
such absurdities could have found belief for a moment, or have pro- 
duced any effect on the public mind, is truly astonishing. 

A virulent and fabulous book, published under the title of " Memoirs 
of Ireland, from the Restoration to the present time," which abounds 
in falsehoods of the grossest character, contains a curious account of 
one of those wonderful plots. It is quite an original; and deserves to 
be brought to light once more, out of compliment to the talents of the 
fabricator who could devise, and to the sagacity of the stupid public 
which could digest, such a tale. 

It states, that a massacre of the Protestants in Ireland was intended, 
anno 1670: preparatory to which, "the priests ordered their congre- 
gations at mass," to fix ^^ over their doors a cross made ofstraiv." 
This cross was to be a mark to the assassins not to molest the inhabi- 
tants, " when the bloody massacre was to be perpetrated." All " the 
men, women, and children" in the houses devoid of the straw cross, were 
" to be butchered, and the houses burned." This is very amusing, 
truly ; and a mere matter of course. But the enigmatical part of the 
plot remains. The crosses " were so little," that " the Protestants 
took no notice of them" by daylight; although the cut-throats, to 
whom they were to afford directions, were to be governed by them at 
night, as that time alone was fit for such deeds of blood. And, although 
the directions had been given openly " fif mass ! ! J" throughout the 
kingdom, " the matter was carried with so much secrecy J ! ! that " the 
priests themselves" were ignorant of what was meant, and " believed 
that it was designed to bless the people's houses!!!"* And this 

—•>►>© ® «<«•— 

revenues could not equip a single regiment. This formidable body of insurgents 
was destined to join twenty thousand men to be furnished by France, and who were 
tc make their descent at the port of Carlingford, a place the most inconvenient, and 
even impossible for the purpose. The witnesses of Plunket were detained by con- 
trary winds, and other untoward accidents : so that he had little to urge against his 
accusers but the improbability of their evidence, and solemn asseverations of his own 
innocence. Tlie wretched man -was condemned and executed for a plot wldch lie 
explicttly denied at /lis deatli, with the most solemn disavowal of all equivocation ; 
and which, if tie Iiad confessed, 710 man at all acquainted with the circumstances 
of Ireland, (as tie pertinently observed,') could liave given the least credit to fus 
dying confession. 

" Through the whole melancholy progress of perjury and subornation, the duke 
of Ormond acted with the utmost caution. He discouraged no informations, he 
discovered no violence in the prosecution of them." — Ibid. 

* "The priests, by directions from their superiors, ordered their several congre- 
gations, at mass, that, at such a time, every Roman Catholic should fix over their 
doors A CROSS made or stkaw. The people were curious to understand the reason 
of this order ; but tfie matter -was carried tvit/i so much secrecy, that the priests 
themselves, it is believed, k?iexv no more ttian that it was designed to bless the 
people's houses. This was generally performed : and, at the same time, vast multi- 
tudes of priests came from beyond the sea ; who, as appears by the sequel, were 
better acquainted with the bottom of this black and dainnable intrigue, than gene- 
rally the poor ignorant priests of Ireland were, to whom tlte hellish conclave at 
''"we did not think fit to communicate a matte;- of ♦>>;<- f—,-..-,*^ n^,d rrreat import- 



244 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

miserable fabrication was credited ; excited a great alarm among " the 
Protestant ascendancy ;" and afforded a pretext for the further oppres- 
sion and persecution of, and depredation on, the Roman Catholics. 

In the year 1681, there was a wonderful alarm excited in England, 
on the subject of an intended insurrection and massacre in Ireland.* 
The most terrific accounts were transmitted from the latter to the for- 
mer kingdom ; and warrants were issued for apprehending the sup- 
posed conspirators : but this, like so many othei of the similar con- 
trivances, already noticed, manifested as much folly as fraud. The 
four leaders of this tremendous conspiracy, for whom those warrants 
were issued, were, Richard Talbet, lord Mountgarret, his son, and _a 
colonel Peppard. [Leland, IV. 185.] Talbot was apprehended ; and, 
being examined, there was nothing discovered that could warrant hold- 
ing him in custody : [^Ibid.^ of lord Mountgarret's son, no further 
mention is made by Leland or Carte : and, to throw the affair into 
complete ridicule, and display its wickedness and folly, there was no 
such person to be found as colonel Peppard ; and lord Mountgarret, 
who was represented as so extremely dangerous, and so active a con- 
spirator, was " of the age of fourscore years ! ! bed-iidden ! ! and in a 
state of dotage ! ! !" [/6u/.] most admirable qualities for a conspirator! 

Anonymous letters dropped in the streets or sent to gentlemen'' s 
houses, to excite alarm. 

A potent instrument in the hands of the profligate statesmen whose 
grand object was to keep the public mind in a constant state of excite- 
ment, was the dropping of anonymous letters in the streets,! or di- 
recting them to gentlemen's houses, containing developments of plots 
for the slaughter of the Protestants. The bigoted, who detested the 

ance. The plot was formed after the ensuing manner. This signal of the cross 
■was to disthigjtish the Papists from the Protestants, when THE BLOODY 
MASSACRE WAS TO BE PERPETRATED. Where no cross was found on 
the door, all -within the house, men, ivoinen, and children, were to he butchered, on 
a certain day, and their houses burnt. Intimation of this design being given to 
the magistracy, search was made; and crosses accordingly found at most of the 
Papists' doors in the province of Munster. They -were so little, that the Protes- 
tants took 710 notice of the^nJ The priest, who discovered the plot first, ran away, 
and was no more heard of." — JMemoirs of Ireland, 15. 

* "January 6th, 1681. Resolved, by the lords spiritual and temporal in 'parlia- 
ment assembled, that they do declare, that they are fully satisfied, that there now is, 
and for divers years last past has been, a horrid and treasonable plot contrived and 
carried on by those of the popish religion in Ireland, for massacreing the English, 
and subverting the protestant religion, and the ancient established government of 
that kingdom ; to which their lordships desire the concurrence of this house." — 
Idem, 25. 

+ " It had been a common artifice, just after the king's restoration, TO DROP 
SUCH LETTERS IN THE STREETS AND HIGHWAYS, IN ORDER TO 
RENDER THE IRISH ODIOUS."— Caiite, H. 239. 

" The more violent attempted to drive the duke of Ormond from his course of 
moderate measures, by alarming him with fears of assassination. Letters -were 
dropped in Dublin, intimating a design of this nature, and several pretended to 
give an account of -what they heard or suspected of this design." — Idem. 

" There was dropped in the streets a declaration of the Catholics of Ireland, 
framed upon presumption that the design had been effected, and to the like purpose 
as is before remembered." — Whiteiock, 47. 



CHAPTER XXI. 245 

Roman Catholics on account of their religion — the sanguinary who 
thirsted for their blood — the ambitious who loved to fish in troubled 
waters — and the rapacious who wished for forfeitures, all united in 
this detestable system of pretending plots and conspiracies, to counte- 
nance such measures of violence as might drive the Irish into rebel- 
lion.* 

One of the most remarkable cases of this kind occurred in 1688, 
after the revolution in England. An anonymous letter, addressed to 
lord Mount-Alexander, t dated December 3, 1688, announced that on 
the following Sunday there was to be a general massacre of all the 
Protestants throughout the kingdom. Copies of this letter were mul- 
tiplied, and spread over the kingdom, and excited as great an alarm as 
if an army of Goths and Vandals had landed and were actually de- 
vastating the country. Thousands of persons fled the kingdom.:}; 

* '*^he peace and quiet in Ireland was a great disappointment to lord Shaftes- 
bury and his party, whose designs could not be advantaged by any thing so much 
as by an insurrection there; of which the experience of their predecessors in 1641, 
whose steps and measure they copied, was an undoubted evidence." — Carte, II. 
494. 

f " Jl letter addressed by an unknoioji person to lord Mount-Alexander, in the 
county of Down, -warned him of a general massacre intended by the Irish. The 
style was mean and vulgar ; nor was the information on that account less plausible. 
It was confident and circumstantial ; and pointed out Sunday, the ninth day of De- 
cember, as the precise time -when this bloody design -u/as to be executed, ivithont 
distinction of sex, age, or condition. The like intelligence was conveyed to some 
other gentlemen of the northern province : and whether these letters were the con- 
trivance of artifice, or the effect of credulity, their influence ivas -wonderfuV — Le-' 

LAND, IV. 229. 

% " Their just and terrible apprehensions were increased by a letter, dated the 
third of December, 1688, sent to the earl of Mount-Alexander, intimating a design 
of destroying the Protestants on the Sunday following. This letter was spread 
over the kingdom ; and one cannot conceive the horrible flight it put them all into. 
The contents of it were as follow : 

" A copy of the Letter dispersed about the JVEassacre, said to be designed mi the 
9th of December, 1688. 

"Decemb. 3, 1688. 
*' Good my lord, 
•" I have written to let you know, that all our Irishmen through Ireland are sworn, 
that on the 9th day of this month, being Sunday next, they are to fall on, to kill and 
murther man, -wife, and child, and to spare none ; and I desire your lordship to 
take care of yourself, and all others that are adjudged by our men to be heads; for 
whoever of them can kill any of you, is to have a captain's place. So my desire to 
your honour is to look to yourself, and to give other noblemen warning, and go not 
out at night or day without a good guard with you ; and let no Irishman come near 
you, whatever he be. This is all from him, who is your friend and father's friend, 
and will be, though I dare not be known as yet, for fear of my life. 
" Direct this with care and haste 
" To my lord Mount-Alexander. 

" His lordship sent this letter to Dublin, with several copies of it ; and copies of 
it were also sent to all parts of the kingdom. It arrived at Dublin on Friday, and 
THE DAY OF SLAUGHTER WAS TO BE TWO DAYS AFTER; the 
terror of which was so great amongst the English, that about three thousand souls 
got away on the Saturday. There happened to be a great many ships in the har- 
bour at that time, and they were all so crammed, that the passengers -were in dan- 
ger of being stifled." — Memoirs, 87. 



246 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

One serious reflection here forces itself on the mind. How awful 
and deplorable must have been the situation of the Roman Catholics 
of Ireland, forming the great mass of the nation, when their happi- 
ness, their security, nay, their liberties and their lives, lay at the mercy 
of any miscreant that could fabricate such letters as that sent to lord 
Mount-Alexander, which, according to the account of the virulent 
writer of the " History of Ireland, from the Restoration to the present 
time," set the whole kingdom in a flame! And let it be borne in 
mind, I repeat, that every such letter, every rumour of a conspiracy, 
was intended to introduce, and did produce, some act to blast the cha- 
racters, violate the rights, or depredate on the property, of those per; 
secuted religionists. 



CHAPTER XXII. 247 



CHAPTER XXII. 

The insurrection in 1641. Was there a general conspiracy of the 
Irish Catholics, in that year to murder the Protestants? O^Co- 
nally. Palpable perjury. Analysis of the legend. 

" A perjur'd wretch, whom falsehood clothes, 
Ev'n Hke a garment — 
Who in the day's broad searching eye, 
Makes God bear witness to a He." — Churchill. 

The decision of this question is attended with far more difficulty 
than any of those hitherto presented to the view of the reader. The 
nature of the case does not admit of the same kind of evidence as I 
have been hitherto enabled to produce, and which, I flatter myself, has 
been found irresistible. 

The tale of this conspiracy has been so universally credited ; so 
large a portion of the possessors of confiscated property in Ireland 
have been for one hundred and eighty years interested in aftbrding it 
support and countenance ; so much art and talent have been, during 
that time, employed in giving it an air of plausibility ; there is so much 
difficulty in proving a negative in any case, more particularly in the 
present one, which is naturally, and has been moreover artfully, in- 
volved in mystery ; and it is so extremely arduous an undertaking to 
operate upon the public mind, when imbued with inveterate preju- 
dices, that the task is truly Herculean, and I should have abandoned 
it as impracticable, but that the narrative itself is replete with so many 
incredible and incongruous circumstances, as to carry strong internal 
evidence of the most idiotic stupidity and the most barefaced fraud. 

In order to give the story fair play, and to enable the reader to form 
a correct opinion on the subject, with all the evidence before him, I 
shall give the whole account of the pretended discovery of the plot, as 
it stands in Temple's History of the Irish Rebellion, the authority al- 
most solely relied on by all the subsequent writers on the subject. 
Some slight extracts are added from Borlace, containing a kw addi- 
tional particulars. 

To simplify the examination, the narrative is divided into short sen- 
tences, each containing perfect sense, to oblige the reader to pause and 
reflect, as he proceeds. 

The discussion of this question being one of the main objects of the 
work, the reader's calm and can3id consideration of it is earnestly in- 
voked. It is hoped that, laying aside all preconceived opinions on the 
subject, he will revolve it in his mind, as if it were wholly a new case, 
and he had now, for the first time in his life, to form a decision on it. 

There are unfortunately, too many to whom a compliance with this 
request is impossible : and indeed a large proportion of mankind can 
never command independence of mind enough even to examine evi- 
dence that militates with their early, and, of course, inveterate, preju- 



248 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^. 

dices; Car less ever to abandon those prejudices. There are, therefore, 
thousands who wouUl as soon doubt any of the demonstrations of Eu- 
clid, or the existence of the solar system, as the existence of the uni- 
versality of the plot of " the execrable rebellion of 1641." 

To this contracted class I do not address myself: M'ith them I have 
no fellowship : " Ev.en though one were to rise from the dead," his 
testimony would not convince them. Let them hug the chains of their 
bigoted prejudices. The appeal is to that respectable description of 
readers, whose minds, open to conviction, are tit all times ready to 
yield to the force of evidence, how strongly soever it may militate 
against opinions which have " grown with their growth." The fa- 
vourable decision of one such reader, with a clear head and sound 
heart, would outweigh the disapprobation of a whole army of the slaves 
of prejudice. 

Extracts from TempWs History of the Irish Rebellion.* 

1. "Sir William Cole, upon the very first apprehensions of something that he 
conceived to be hatching among the Irish, did write a letter to the lords justices and 
council, (xj^ dated the eleventh nf October, 1641. 

2. " Wherein he gave them notice of the great resort made to sir Phelim O'Neal, 
in the county of Tyrone, as also to the house of the lord JMacgiiire, in the county 
of Fermanagh, and that by several suspected persons, fit instruments for mischief; 

3. " As also that the said lord Macguire had of late made several jownies into 
the Pale and other places, and had spent Iiis time much in -writing letters and 
seriding despatches abroad. 

4. ^y- " These letters -zvere received by the lords justices and council ; 

5. " And they, in answer to them, required him to be very vigilant and indus- 
trious to find out what should be the occasion of these several meetings, and 
speedily to advertise them thereof, or of any other particular that he conceived might 
tend to the public service of the state." — Temple, 1 8. 

6. " They [the lords justices] had not any certain notice of the general conspiracy 
of the Irish, until the tiveiUy-second of October, in the -very evening before the day 
appointed for the surprise of the castle and city of Dublin. 

7. " The conspirators being, many of them, arrived within the city, and having 
that day met at the liyon tavern, near Copper alley, and there turning the drawer otit 
of the room, ordered their affairs together, drunk healths upon their knees to the 
happy success of the next morning's work. 

8. •' Owen O'Conally, a gcntlemanofa 7nere Irish family, hut one that had long 
lived among the English, and been trained up in the true Protestant religion, came 
imto the lord justice Parsons, about nine o'clock that evening!! 

9. " And made him a broken relation of a great conspiracy for the seizing upon 
his majesty's castle of Dublin. 

10. " He gave him the names of some of the c/iief conspirators / assured him 
that they were come iip expressly to the town for the same purpose ; and that next 
morning they would undoubtedly attempt, and surely effect it, if their design were 
not speedily prevented ; 

n. « And that he had understood all this from Hugh Mac-Mahon, one of the 
chief conspirators, who was then in the town, and came up but t/ie very saine after- 
noon, for the execution of the plot ! ! * 

12. " And with whom indeed he Iiad been drinking somewhat liberally ; and as 
the truth is, did then make such a broken relation of a matter that seemed so incre- 
dible in itself, as that his lordship gave very little belief to it at first ! ! 

* The reader will please to observe, that these extracts are taken verbatim from 
the original work ; and, unless where otherwise distinctly marked by a dash, 
thus ^ , form an unbroken consecutive series. 



CHAPTER XXII. 249 

13. " In regard it came from an obscure person, and one, as he conceived, some- 
what distempered at tliat time. 

14. " But howsoever, the lord Parsons gave him' order to go again to JHac- 
J\fahon ! ! ! / .' and get out of him as muc'i certainty of the plot ! ! ! ! ! with as 
many particular circumstances, as he could ! ! ! ! straitly charging him to return back 
unto him the same evening ! ! ! ! 

15. " And in the mean time, having by strict commands given to the constable of 
the castle, taken order to have the gates thereof ivell guarded, as also -with the 
mayor and sheriff's of the city to have strong watches set upon all parts of the same, 
and to make stay of all strangers. 

1 6. " He went privately ! ! about ten of the clock that night, to the lord Bor- 
lace's house -without the toiun ! .' ! and there acquainted him with what he under- 
stood from O'Conally.* 

17. " They sent for such of the council as they knew then to be in the to-wn.* 

18. "But the' e came only unto them that night sir Thomas Bothei'am and sir 
Robert JVIeredith, cliancellor of the exchequer: v^ith these they fell into consulta- 
tion xvhat was ft to be done ! ! / / attending the return of O'Conally ! 

19. "And finding that he staid somewhat longer than the time prefixed, they 
sent out in search after him ; 

20. " And found -him seized on by the watch; and so he had been carried away 
to prison, and the discovery that night disappointed, 

21. " Had not one of the lord Parsons's servants ! expressly sent, amongst others, 
to lualk the streets, and attend the motion of the said O' C on ally ! ! come in, and! 
rescued him, and brought him to the lord Borlace's house. 

22. " Oi' Co nail y having sonieivhat recovered himself from his distemper, occa- 
sioned partly, as he said himself, by the horror of the plot revealed to him, partly by 
his too liberal drinking with Mac-Mahon, that he might the more easily get away 
from hinu.(he beginning much to suspect and fear his discovery of the plot,) 

23. " Confirmed what he had formerly related, and added these further particulars 
set down in his examination, as followeth: — Temple, 19. 

The Examination of Owen CfConally, gentleman, taken before us, 
whose yxames ensue, October 22, 1641. 

" Who being duly sworn, and examined, saith : 

24. " That he being at J\foniniore, in the county of Londonderry, on Tuesday 
last J he received a letter from colonel Hugh Oge Mac-Mahon, desiring him ta 
come to Conaught, in the county of Monaghan, and to be v^ith him on JVednetday 
or Thursday last ! 

25. " Wliereupon he, tliis examinate, came to Conaught on Wednesday night 
last ; 

* Although I shall analyse this precious narrative at length, before this chapter is 
closed, I cannot refrain from calling the reader's attention to these two paragraphs, 
16 and 17, as they alone would be sufficient with impartial men, to discredit the 
whole plot. Sir William Parsons, being in the city of Dublin, at nine o'clock af 
night, is informed of a plot to explode in thirteen hours. — Instead of at once seizing 
the conspirators, he sends a drunken man, whose absence must have excited suspi- 
cion, to make further discoveries! — and at ten o'clock, he goes "privately" to lord 
Borlace's house "out of town" — and then sends for such of the council as he knew 
to be then " in town." Was there ever a more Munchausen tale! It is hardly 
calculated to impose on an idiot. How far out of town sir John's house was, cannot 
be ascertained — suppose only a mile. Then he walked a mile — the messenger 
another — and such of the council as were found, had to walk a third mile, and for 
whall To be so far removed from the scene of action, and from the means of ap- 
plying a remedy to the impending evils, as to give every opportunity to tRe conspi- 
rators to insure their success ! Here was a most pernicious delay, when every 
moment was invaluable ! ! Had there been any reality in the plot, sir William" 
would have remained " in town" — collected all of the council there at the time — 
sent a messenger " out of town" for sir John Borlace — and thencoUected the whole 
body at their posts, where they ought to be on such an emergcnev. 

32 



250 VINDICLE HIBERNIC.^. 

26. "And finding tho said Hugh come to Dublin, followed hiiu hither; 

27. " He caiue hither about six of the cluck this eveiiing ! ! .' 

28. " AnA fort hivith -went to the lodging- of the said Hugh, io the house near the 
Boat, in Oxmantovvn ; 

29. " And there he found the said Hugh, and came with the said Hugh into the 
town, near the Pillory, to the lodging of the lord Macguire; 

30. " Where they found not the lord within ; and there they drank a cup of 
beer; 

31. " And then -went back again to the said Hugh his lodging;* 

32. " He saith, that at the lord Macguire his lodging, the said Hugh told him that 
there were and would be this night great numbers of noblemen and gentlemen of 
the Irish Papists, from all the parts of the kingdom, in this town ; 

. 33. " Who, with himself, had determined tc take the castle of Dublin, and pos- 
sess themselves of all his mujesty^s ammunition there ! ! to-morro-w murning, being 
Saturday ! ! ! 

34. " And that they intended first to batter the chimnies of the said town ! and 
if the city would not yield, then to batter down the houses! 

35. " And so to cut off\iU the Protestants that would not join with them ! 

36. " He further saith, that the said Hugh then told him, that the Irish had pre- 
pared men in all parts of the kingdom, to destroy alt the Engli^i inhabiting there, 
to-morrow morning by ten of the cloct: ! ! 

37. " And that in all the sea ports, and other towns in the kingdom, all the pro- 
testants should be killed this night ! ! and that all the posts that could be, could not 
prevent it ; 

38. "Arid further saith, that he moved the said Hugh to forbear executing of 
that business, and to discover it to the state, for the saving of his own estate ; 

39. " Who said he could not help it ; but said, that they did owe their allegiance 
to the king, and would pay him all his rights: but that they did this for ^e tyran- 
nical government was over them, and to imitate Scotland, who got a privilege by 
that course; 

40. " And he further saith, that when he was with the said Hugh, in his lodging 
the second time, the said Hugh swore, that he should not go out of his lodging that 
night; but told him that he should go with him the next morning to the castle; and 
said, if this matter were discovered, some body should die for it: 

40 J. " Whereupon this examinate feigned some necessity for his easement ; went 
down out of the chamber ; and left his sword in pawn : and the said Hugh sent his 
man down with him ; and when this examinate came down into the yard, and find- 
ing an opportunity, he, this examinate, leapt over a wall and two pales ! ! ! and 
80 came to the lord justice Parsons. 

October 22, 1641. 

Willia:m Parsons, 

ThOJIAS ivOTHERAM, 

RoniiRT jVif.redith, 
Owen 0'CoNALLT."t 
^^ 41. " How it came to pass that the other lord justice attested not tlie exam- 
ination (it being took in his house, he present,) hath begot some doubts, evidencing 
how (since) counsels swerved into cabals." — Boulace, 21. 

42. " Hereupon the lords took present order to have a watch privately set upon 
the lodging of JMac-JMahon, as also upon the lord Jllacguire ! .' I ! /f 

43. " And so they sat xLp all that night in consultation ! ! ! having far stronger 
presumptions upon this latter examination taken than any ways at first they could 
entertain. 

44. " The lords justices, upon a further consideration, there being come unto 

• Here 'again is a dodging "into town" and " out of town." 

■\ The lords justices have information of a plot to explode in a few hours, where- 
by they are to be murdered, and as a precautionary measure, " set a watch privately 
upon the lodgings" of the chief conspirators ! ! can any thing more extraordinary 
be found in Munchausen ? 

% Temple, 20. 



CHAPTER XXir. 251 

them early next moiming ! several others of the privy council, nent before day, and 
seized upon JSTac-Mahon, then vnih his servant in his o-wn lodging .' 

45. "They at first made some little resistance with their drawn swords; hut find- 
ing themselves over mastered, presently yielded. 

46. " And so they were brought before the lords justices and council, still sitting 
at the lord Borlace''s house* 

47. " Where, upon examination, he did without much difficulty confess the plot, 
resolutely telling them, that on that very day, all the forts and strong places in 
Ireland, ivonld be taken ! ! ! ! 

48. " That he, with the lord Macguire, Hugh Birn, captain Brian O'Neil, and 
several other Irish gentlemen, were come up expressly to surprize the castle of 
Dublin ! 

49. " That tiventy men ont of each comity in the kingdom ! ! ! were to be here 
to join with thcm.f 

50. " That all the lords and gentlemen in the kingdom, that -were papists, tvere 
engaged in this plot !.'.' 

51. " That what was that day to be done in other parts of the country, was so 
far advanced -by that time, as it was impossible for the wit of man to prevent it! 

53. " And withal told th/m, that it was true they had him in their power, and 
might use him how they pleased ; but he was sure he should be revenged." — 
Temple, 21. 

53. Extract from "The lords chief justices' letter to the lord lieutenant, October 
25th, 1641, sent by Owen O'Conally, the first discoverer.^ 

" May it please your lordship, 

54. " On Friday, the 22d of this month, after nine o'clock at rught, this bearer, 
Owen O'Conally, SERVANT TO SIR JOHN CLOTWORTHY, KNIGHT, 
came to me, the lord justice Parsons, to my house, 

55. " And in great secrecy (as indeed the cause did require,) discovered unto me 
a most wicked and damnable conspiracy, plotted, contrived, and intended to be also 
acted by some evil-affected Irish Papists here. 

56. " The plot was on the then next morning, Saturday, the 23d of October, 
being St. Ignatius's day, about iiine of the clock .' to surprize his majesty's castle of 
Dublin, his majesty's chief strength of this kingdom ; wherein also is the principal 
magazine of his majesty's arms and munition. 

57. " And it was agreed, it seems among them, that at the same hour all other 
his majesty^ forts and magazines of arins and munition iti this kingdom ! ! should 
be surprized by others of those conspirators: 

58. " And further, that all the Pvutcslants and English throughout the rvhole 
kingdom .' ! that would not join with them, should be cut oft'! ! and so those Papists 
should then become possessed of the government and kingdom at the same instant. 

59. " As soon as I had that intelligence, I then immediately repaired to the lord 
justice Borlace ; and thereupon we instantly assembled the council. 

60. " And having sate all that night ! ! also all the next day, the 23d of October, 
in regard of the short time left us for the consultation of so great and weighty a 
matter, although it was not possible for us, upon so few hours' warning, to prevent 
those other great mischiefs which were to be acted, even at the same hour and at so 
great a distance, in all the other parts of the kingdom ;§ 

* It appears, therefore, that the council was sitting all night " at lord Borlace's 
house" " out of toivn," so as to leave the conspirators free scope to carry their 
projects into execution " in town." Was ever an imposture so absurdly concocted 1 

f There are thirty-two counties in Ireland, some of them one hundred and fifty 
miles from Dublin — and tiventy men tvere to be marched from each county, to ex- 
ecute a plot requiring the utmost secrecy ! ! An admirable scheme ! 

^ Thus it appears that the lords justices did not think it necessary to write the 
lord lieutenant then in London, till Monday the 25th, respecting a conspiracy for 
the destruction of " all the Protestants in Ireland that would not join it," which was 
to have exploded on the 23d ! ! ! 

§ " Which were to be acted, even at the same hour, in all other parts of the 
kingdom" — but which were not acted, nor attempted. 



252 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

61. " Yet such was our industry therein, having' caused the castle to he that 
night strengthened with armed men, and the city guarded, as the wicked councils 
of those evil persons, by the great mercy of God to us, became defeated, so as they 
■were not able to act that part of their treachery, which indeed was principal. 

62. "And which, if they could have effected, would have rendered the rest of 
their purposes the more easy. 

63. "Having so secured the castle, we forthwith laid about for the apprehension 
of as many of the offenders as we could, many of them having come to this city but 
that night, intending, it seems, the next morning, to act their parts in those treache- 
rous and bloody crimes. 

64. " The first man apprehended was one Hugh Mac-Mahon, Esq. (grandson to 
the traitor Tyrone,) a gentleman of good fortune in the county of Monaghan, who, 
with others, -was taken thni morning in Dublin, having, at the time of their appre- 
hension, offered a little resistance with their swords drawn ; but finding those we 
employed against them more in number, and better armed, yielded. 

63. " He, upon examination before us, at first denied all : but in the end, when 
he saw we laid it home to him, he confessed enough to destroy himself, and impeach 
some others, as by a copy of his examination herewith sent, may a43pear to your 
lordship. 

66. " We then committed him until we might have further time to examine him 
again, our time being become more needful to be employed in action for securing 
this place, than in examining. This Mac-Mahon had been abroad, and served the king 
of Spain as a lieutenant colonel. 

67. " Upon conference with him and others ! ! ! and culling to mind a letter ive 
received the iveek before from sir William Cole ! ! ! a copy whereof we send yoxvc 
lordship here inclosed, we gatheuki), that tlie lord JllacgJiire ivas to be an actor 
in surprizing ihe'cnstle of Dublin ! ! ! ! !* 

68. " Wherefore we held it necessary to .secure him immediately, thereby also 
to startle and deter the rest, when they found him laid fast." — TusirLE, 27. 

Extracts from Borlace's ^^ History of the Execrable Irish Rebellion.'''' 

69. " In the interim, the lord Parsons, (being touched with the relation,) repair- 
ed, about ten of the clock at night, to the lord Borlace, at Chichester house, without 
the town ; 

70. " And disclosed to him what O'Conally had imparted ; which made so sensi- 
ble an impression on his colleague, as, (the discoverer being let go,) he grew infinitely 
concerned thereat, having none to punish, if the story should prove false, or means 
to learn more, were it true. 

71. " In the disturbance of which perplexity, Owen O'Conally comes, (or, as 
others write, was brought,) where the lords justices were then met; sensible that 
his discover}' was not thoroughly believed, professing that whatever he had acquaint- 
ed the lord Parsons with, (touching the conspiracy,) was true : 

72. " And could he but repose himself, fthe effect of drink being still upon 
him, J he should discover more ! 

73. " Whereupon he had the conveniency of a bed ! ! /" — Boulace, 20. 

74. "In the interim, the lords justices summoned as many of the council as they 
could give notice to, to their assistance that night at Chichester house. 

75. " Sir Thomas Rotheram, and sir Robert Meredith, chancellor of the exchequer, 
came immediately to them. 

76. " They then with all diUgence secured the gates of the city,f with such as 
they could most confide in, and strengthened the warders of the castle, (which were 

— >t.v>9 % ®^. — 

• After having set a guard on his house the preceding night, they required all this 
variety of information, to "gather that the lord J^acguire was to be an actor in 
surprising the castle of I)ubli7i T' 

•j- "They secured the gates of the city."] That is to say, the conspirators were 
" in the town" — and they " out of town" — they therefore must have shut them- 
selves out. 



CHAPTER XXII. 253 

a. few inconsiderable men,) with their foot guard,* usually attending their persons, 
charging' the muyov and Ids brethren to be ivatchful of all persons that should 
■walk the streets that night ! ! ! — Boulace, 20. 

77. '• Hugh Oge Mac-Mahon, Esq. grandson by his mother to the traitor Tir- 
Owen, a gentleman of good fortune in the county of Monaghan, who had served as 
a lieutenant-colonel in the king of Spain's quarters, was, after some little resistance, 
apprehended before day in his oivn lodgings, over the water, near the Inns, and 
brought to Chichester house; 

78. " Where, upon examination, he did, without much difficulty, confess the 
plot, resolutely telling them, That on that vkry day," [it -was noiv about five in 
the morning, the 23d of Oct. 1641 / / /] " that all the forts and strong places in 
Ireland would be taken," &c. &c. — Ibid. 

79. " Before Mac-Mahon was apprehended, O'Conally, having on his repose re- 
covered himself, had his examination taken, in these words :" [as before.] — Ibid. 

^^nalysis of the foregoing legend. 

I. A Roman Catholic colonel is engaged in a plot, the object of 
which «s " to massacre all the Protestants in the kingdom,^^ " except 
those who would join" in murdering their brethren. 

II. This colonel, in want of a confederate, sends about forty-five 
miles to O'Conally, a Protestant, to reveal to him this project ! ! ! 

III. O'Conally, who, in order to attach importance to his testimony, 
in sonle of the statements is styled " a gentleman,'''' is, in fact and in 
truth, merely a servant to sir John Clotworthy, one of the tnost en- 
venomed enemies of the Roman Catholics, and, of course, a very suit- 
able pejrson to be entrusted with such a secret, and very worthy to be 
sent for to a place distant forty-five miles'. 

IV. O'Conally receives a letter on Tuesday, the 19th of October, 
at what hour is not known, — say nine o'clock, A. M. and, wholly 
ignorant of the nature of the affair which leads to the invitation, 
makes all his preparations at once, and commences his journey, we 
will suppose, about noon the same day. 

V. He arrives, on Wednesday night, the 20th, at Conaught, after a 
journey of about forty-five miles : and be it observed, en passant, that 
a journey of forty-five miles, at that period, was nearly as arduous an 
undertaking, and required almost as much preparation, as a journey of 
five hundred at present. 

VI. Colonel Mac-Mahon, whose invitation had given O'Conally the 
option of coming on Wednesday or Thursday, so far broke his en- 
gagement, that he had started, on TVednesday, for Dublin, previous to 
O'Conally's arrival, which took place on the night of that day. 

VII. O'Conally, nothing discouraged by the breach of engagement 
on the part of the colonel, follows him to Dublin. 

VIII. He arrives in that city on the memorable Friday, the 32d of 
October, " about six o'clock in the evening" one hour after sunset. 

IX. Conaught, in Monaghan, is not to be found on any map. I will 
therefore suppose it to have been in the centre of the county. 

X. Monimore, by Pinkerton's map, is about forty miles in a direct 

* " The footguard.] Thus the safety of the city was confided, at a time of such 
imminent danger, to " the warders" •' a few inconsiderable men," and " the foot- 
guard" of the lords justices, "usually attending their persons," which cannot be 
presumed to have been more than ten or a dozen at most ! 



354 VINDICr.E HIBERNIC.E. 

line from the centre of the County of Monaghan — and this centre is 
about sixty miles also in a direct line from Dublin. The whole dis- 
tance must, by the usual circuitous windings of the road, have been of 
the very least one hundred and ten miles ! ! ! 

XI. The climate of Ireland is very moist. Rains are generally 
abundant, particularly in autumn. Of course, the roads at that season 
were very probably miry, and difficult to travel! 

XII. It thus appears, that O'Conually has performed a journey of 
about forty-live miles in a day and a half ! ! that is, from mid-day on 
Tuesday, to Wednesday night : aud a hundred and ten in three days 
and a half! ! at a season of the year, when the sun rose about seven, 
AND SET ABOUT FIVE ! ! ! aud tliis exploit was accomplished at a time 
when there Avere no cHligences, post-coaches, post-chaises, or steam- 
boats, to ensure expedition ; when, the roads were in all probability in 
very bad order, and when, moreover, the traveller kn«w nothing of the 
murderous business i:) which he was invited to participate ! ! 

XIII. Nothing discouraged by the fatigue of his journey of •» hun- 
dred and ten miles, nor by his previous disappointment, nor by the 
darkness of the evening, he commences a seaich for the lodgings of an 
entire stranger who had arrived that evening! ! ! Wonderful to tell, 
ami impossible to be believed, he is said to have succeeded, and to have 
found out the stranger's lodgings ! And let it not be forgotten, that on 
this night the moon ivus invisible,* a circumstance admirably calculated 
to aid his reseat ches ! ! ! 

XIV. Although the colonel was engaged in a plot to explod/3 next 
day, at ten o'' clock, A. M. O^Jonally tindshim alone, between six and 
seven] o\lock on Friday evening, in the suburbs. He appears to have 
seen none of his brotlier conspirators before nine, at which time O'Con- 
ally left him. 

XV. The colonel takes him to the lodgings of a brother conspirator 
'■'■into town,^'' at the distance, probably, of a mile or two. 

XVI. This conspirator not being at home, the colonel, after having 
taken a driidv of beer with his new friend, freely communicates " that 
there were and would be, this night, great numbers of noblemen and 
gentlemen of the Irish, from all parts of the kingdom," whose object 
\vas " to cut ojf all the Protestants that would not join themJ'^ — 
Temple, 20. 

XVII. And they then went back to " the said Hugh his lodgings,'''' 
in the suburbs, " near Oxmantown," where O'Uonally drank till he 
was drunk. 

XVIII. O'Conally notwithstanding this untoward circumstance, 
and that he was, two hours afterwards, unable to relate a consistent 
story, was alert enough " to leap over a wall, and afterwards over 
I wo pedes" 

* Ea^ract of a letter from the Vice-Frovost of the University of Fennsylvania. 
"Dear Sir, January 6, 1819. 

" I find that it was A'eiv Moon, at Dublin, at about two o'clock in the moruing of 
the 24th of October, 1641, O. S. Consequently the moon must have been invisi- 
ble on the whole night of the 22tl-23cl of that month. 

" Yours, &c. 
" Mn. M. Caret. " K. M. PATTERSON." 

t It must have required some time to find out Mac-Mahon's lodgings. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



255 



XIX. Notwithstandinjf his disordered state, he was able to find his 
way to sir William Parsons, in (he town, to whom he communicated 
the whole affair. 

XX. Here let us observe that this very sir William had received in- 
formation of a plot, several days before, from sir William Cole, " upon 
the very first apprehension of something he conceived to be hatching 
among the Irish T'' — Idem, 18. 

XXI. And further, that this lord justice had written to sir William 
Cole, " to be very vigilant in inquiring into the occasion of those 
meetings ;" whereby it appears that he had suspicions of a conspiracy. 

XXII. Notwithstanding this information, sir William Parsons, who 
was jealous of some plot " hatching among the Iiish ," who, of course, 
ought to be on the qui vive, and to take alarm on the slightest intima- 
tion of any scheme of that kind ; when he received this " broken 
relation of a matter so incredible in itself, gave very little belief to it 
at first, in regard it came from an obscure person, and one, as he con- 
ceived, someivhai distempered at that time." — Ibid. 

XXIII. " His lordship," with most wonderful sagacity, "hearing 
this broken relation" of a plot, to explode in about twelve or thirteen 
hours, for the purpose of cutting the throats of all the Protestants, sends 
the informer ! ! between nine and ten at night!! with "■ order to go 
again to Mac-Mahon, and get out of him as much certainty of the plot 
as he could! W'—Idem, 19. 

XXIV. This informer who " had been drinking somewhat liber- 
allly" — and was " somewhat distempered at the time''' was a most 
admirable spy to make further discoveries, and " to get out of Mac- 
Mahon as much certainty of the plot, with as many particular circum- 
stances as he could ! ! ! His fitness for this employment at such a cri- 
tical moment, was further proved by the circumstance that on his return 
he was so far intoxicated, " the effects of drink being still upon him,'* 
that he could not give in his testimony, till he had slept himself sober ! ! ! 
Therefore, the " conveniency of a bed" being afforded him, "on his 
repose, having recovered himself, he had his examination taken." 

XXV. After sending O'Conally to Mac-Mahon's lodgings, with 
strict orders " to return back unto him the same evening," sir Wil- 
liam went ^^ privately, at about ten of the clock that night, to lord Bor- 
lace's house, " without the town," — whereas O'Conally was directed 
to come to him at his house " in the town." 

XXVI. " They sent for such of the council as they knew then to 
be IN THE town," to lord Borlace's house, " avitiiout the town." 

XXVII. There they fell into deep consultation " what was fit to be 
done, attending the return of O'Conally." 

XXVIII. They then sent in search of him, and found that he had 
been taken by the watch, and rescued by the servants of sir William 
Parsons, " who had been sent, amongst others, to walk the streets, 
and attend his motion." — Ibid. 

XXIX. " Sensible that his discovery was not thoroughly believed, 
he professed that whatever he had acquainted the lord Parsons with, 
was true ; and could he but repose himself, (The effects of drink being 
still upon him,) he should discover more." 

XXX. " Tfliereupon he had the conveniency of a bed." — Bor- 

LACE, 20. 



260 VINDICLE HIBERNIC.E. 

XXXI. " Having, (on bis repose,) recovered himself," he gave in. 
his deposition. 

XXXII. This is dated the 22d, and of course must have been made 
before twelve o'clock. 

XXXIII. Tliis deposition gave a full detail of a most murderous 
plot, wliereby " a/l the Protestants and English, throughout the 
ivhole kingdom, were to be cut off the next morning." 

XXXIV. Possessed of tliis deposition, which reciuired the most de- 
cisive measures of precaution, it becomes a serious question, what 
did the lords justices do? On this point the whole merits of the ques- 
tion mioht be rested ; and indeed the investigation of any other might 
be wholly omitted. The answer is, " They took present order to have 
a watch privately set upon the lodgings of Alac-Mahon, as also xipon 
the lord Mucgiiire .' ! .'" 

XXXV. Thus in a plain, simple case, in which a school-boy of ten 
years old could have at once pointed out the course to be pursued, 
they spend no less than five precious hours, " in consultation," and 
in devising ways and means for the public safety, notwithstanding that 
the sword, not of Damocles, biU of Mac-Mahon, and his bloody-minded 
associates, hung over them. " They sate up all tliat night in consulta- 
tion," " having far stronger presumptions,* upon the latter examination 
taken, than any ways at iirst they could entertain." — Temple, 21. 

XXXVT. Tiie resuU of their long and painful consultation, from 
twelve o'clock at night till five in the morning, was, that at that late 
hour, they at length adopted the resolution of apprehending Mac- 
Mahon !!!!!! 

XXXVII. Tiie lords justices had received the names of soitie of the 
principal conspirators from O'Conally, and, among the rest, of lord Mac- 
guire ; had '■'privately seta watch, on Friday night," at his lodgings; 
they must of course have known tliat he was equally implicated with 
Mac-Mahon, and equally demanded the exercise of their vigilance : 
and yet they did not think of arresting him, until after the seizure of 
the latter, and " a conference with him and others, and calling to 
mind a letter received the iveck before from sir JVilUam Cole," they 
" gathered" that he " was to be an actor in surprising the castle of 
Dublin !" — Temple, 28. 

XXXVIII. Owen O'Conally swears, that " in all parts of the king- 
dom, all the English inhabiting there," are to be " destroyed to-mor- 
roiv morning :" but, in the very next sentence he swears, " that all the 
Protestants, in all the seaports, and other towns in the kingdom, should 
be killed this night." It is not easy to conceive, how, after they were 
" all killed" on Friday night, they could be " all destroyed on Satur- 
day morning. 

XXXIX. O'Conally's deposition states, that the massacre is to 
begin at " ten o'clock on the 23d ;" to be general " in all parts of the 
kingdom ;" that all the English inhabitants are to be cut off; and that 
" all the posts that could be, could not prevent it." As this is the car- 

— •»►>* © »♦«•— 

* O'Conally sworo positively that there was a conspiracy " to murder all the 
Protestants that would not join" with the conspirators. Yet the justices from thia 
unequivocal testimony only derived " prfsiimplions" of their danger! 



CHAPTEll XXII. 261 

dinal point in the aflair, on which the whole turns, if it can be proved 
to be so unequivocally false and j^roundless, as to be utterly destitute of 
even the shadow of truth, then is the entire story a fabrication, and 
O'Conally a perjurer. 

XL. That this explosion did not take place ; and that, of course, there 
could not possibly have been a general conspiracy^ there is superaban- 
dant testimony, as will appear in the subsequent paragraphs^ 

XLI. I will first premise, that, as the arrest of Mac-Mahon and 
Macguire, in consequence of the pretended discovery of the sham plot, 
took, place on the 23d of October, at Jive o'' clock in the morning, just 
five hours before the time fixed for commencing the massacre, this 
circumstance could not have prevented an explosion in any other part 
of the kingdom, except in a very small portion of the circumjacent 
country. 

XLII. Yet on Monday, the 25th of October, the lords justices wrote 
an elaborate and detailed account of the proceedings of the insurgents 
in the north of Ireland, with a prolix statement of various outrages, not 
only without the least hint or surmise, but even with an utter exclusion 
of every idea, of murder or shadow of blood. 

XLIII. And further, I invoke the most earnest atterrtion of the 
reader to this all-important fact — Notwithstanding the pretended gene- 
rality of the plot, the lords justices, by public proclamation, on the 
29th of October, declared that the insurrection was confined to " the 
mere old Irish of the province of Ulster, and others who adhered to 
them!!!*'— Temple, 34. 

XLIV. These two strong facts prove that such parts of O'Conally's 
deposition as relate to the general extent of the conspiracy, and the 
plot to " cut off all the Protestants throughout the kingdom," aie 
wholly false, and that he of course was an abandoned perjuier; and 
would decide the question on these vital points, beyond appeal or con- 
troversy. But much stronger evidence remains beirind, derived from 
Temple, Borlace, Carte, Leland, and Warner, to which I now invite 
the attention of the readei*. 

XLV. Muuster continued tranquil for six weeks, although, accord- 
ing to the testimony of Warner, it contained but one troop of horse:* 
and of course, when defended by such an insignificant force, had there 
been any reality in the plot, tlie Irish could and would have totally 
overwhelmed their oppressors. t 

* " In the province of Munstcr, of which sir Williuin St. Leger was lord presi- 
dent, the Englit;h were very numerous, and ready to assemble in a body to preserve 
the peace and safety of the country. But they v/ere utterly destitute of arms; and 
all the soUcitations made by sir William, which were strong and numerous, could 
not persuade the lords justices and council to spare liim any. He was a brave old 
soldier, of great experience and activity ; and did every thing that it was possible for 
a man to do -witfi one troop of horse, luhich isus all his guard for the -whole pro- 
vince ; a guard scarcely sufficient to repress the insolence of robbers, in a time of 
profound peace, much less in a time of such general spoil and disturbance. But, 
with the assistance of the noblemen and gentry of the province, (xj'it amtinued 
quiet for above six -weeks I ! I IrHleed,no man of quality, or gentleman of English 
blood, either Papist or Protestant, had as yet joined the rebels." — Warneh, 130. 

\ There is a discrepancy between Temple Euad Borlace as to' the time when the 

33 



262 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^. 

XLVI. Connaught was in the same state for six weeks, principally 
owing to the influence of lord Clanrickarde, a Roman Catholic* 

XLVII, Leinster was likewise tranquil, except some outrages of 
small importance, until the beginning of December; as the summons 
to the lords of the Pale to come to Dublin, to consult on the aff'airs of 
state, was dated the 3d of that month, at which time there was no ap- 
pearance of serious disturbance ; and the butchery at Santry, by the 
sanguinary, atrocious and merciless rufiian, sir Charles Coote,t which 
was obviously intended to provoke, and actually led to, the insurrection 
in that province, took place on the 7th, 

XLVIII. And further, we have the testimony of Warner and Carte4 

insurrection commenced in Munster ; the former stating it " the beginning," and the 
latter " the midst," of December. This does not, however, affect the disproof of 
O'Conally's deposition, which, in either case, is notoriously false. 

" The flame having marched through Ulster and Leinster, it discovers its fury, 
about the beginning of December, 1641, in Munster, which province till that time, 
(by the moderation of the state,) had stifled its rage, then expressing its consent 
with the other provinces," — Borlace, 49. 

" The whole province of Munster, about the midst of this month of December, 
BEGAN to declare themselves in open rebellion." — Temple, 155. 

" In Munster, sir William St. Leger, the lord president, a soldier of activity and 
experience, and possessed even with an inveteracy against the Irish, could not obtain 
arms or soldiers sufficient for a time of peace, much less for a Jiincivre of distrac- 
tion and disorder. Yet the strength of the English Protestants, and the loyalty of 
the Irish gentry, as yet, preserved his province from any material disorder. — Le- 
LANJ), III. 158. 

• " The lord Ranelagh was president of Connaught : and all that province, ex- 
cept a few pillagers in the county of Sligo, had, owing in a great measure to the 
forward zeal and activity of lord Clanrickarde, though a Roman Catholic, till this 
time, continued quiet." — Wahner, 157. 

" The infection of the pale having spread in the remoter parts, about the middle 
of December, the whole province of Connaught in a manner revolted, the county 
of Galway, of which lord Clanrickarde was governor, excepted." — Idem. 

" The peace and security of Connaught were equally neglected by the chief gov- 
ernors, although the English power was inconsiderable in this province, and the 
Irish natives kept in continual alarm for twenty-five years, by the project of a 
general plantation, which, though suspended, had not been formally relinquished. 
Yet, here too, the good affections of the principal inhabitants stemmed the torrent 
of rebellion." — Leland, III. 158. 

■\ " The town being left at his [Sir Charles Coote's] mercy, to -which he appears to 
be a stranger, he put to death several persons, -ivithout distinction oj age or sex ! ! .' 
in revenge of the several spoils committed on the English in those parts." — Wah- 
NER, 135. 

" In revenge of their depredations, he [Sir Charles Coote] committed si/ch U7i- 
provoked, xnch ruthless, and indiscrinunate carnage in the town, as rivalled the 
utmost extravagancies of the Northerns." — Leland, III. 168. 

+ " Had the lords justices and council acquitted themselves like men of probity 
and understanding, there was time enough given them to suppress an insurrection 
■which fn- si J' iveeks -was confined almost to the province of Ulster, without any 
chief M'hich was so considerable as sir Phelim O'Neal." — Warner, 130. 

" JSTo one nobleman of the kingdom, nor any estated gentleman of English race, 
engaged in the rebellion, or joined with the rebels in action, till the month of De- 
cember ; for as to those gentlemen of the county of Louth, who submitted to them 
before, being unable to defend themselves or to make resistance, they had not yet 
appeared in action. The rebellion till then had been carried on by the mere Irish, 
and CONFINED TO ULSTER, to some few counties in LeinUcr, and titat of 
Leitrim, in Connauq-ht." — Carte, I. 243. 



CHAPTER XXir. 263 

that the insurrection was for about six weeks confined almost wholly 
to the province of Ulster. 

XLIX. That the original views of the insurgents did not compre- 
hend a general massacre, or even single murders, we have further tes- 
timony, clear and decisive, derived even from Temple, as well as War- 
ner, and Leland, which, independent of all other proof, would be suf- 
ficient to settle this question forever, and utterly overwhelm O'Con- 
ally's perjured legend.* 

L. Moreover, if there had been a plot for a general insurrection, 
and such a massacre as O'Conally swore to,t there would have been 
evidence produced from some of the conspirators : but notwithstanding 
the lords justices had recourse to the execrable aid of the rack, and 
put Mac-Mahon and others to the torture, there is not, in the examina- 
tions of the former, a single word to corroborate the sanguinary part of 
O'Conally's deposition. The examinations of the rest were never 
published, 

LI. There is not to be found in Temple, Borlace, Carte, Warner, 
Leland, Clarendon, nor, as far as I have seen, in Rushworth, the ex- 
amination of a single person engaged in a conspiracy which was said 
to have extended throughout the whole kingdom, except those of Mac- 
Mahon and lord Macguire ! ! ! ! That of the latter was not taken till 
March 1642. 

Perhaps the preceding analysis of this miserable legend! might super- 
sede the necessity of adding any thing further on the subject. But its 
great importance, and a deep solicitude to dispel the thick mists with 
which prejudice and fraud have overspread it, induce me to place it in 
a new form, and bring it more home to the mind of the reader. The 
reasons for adopting this measure, which might otherwise appear a 
work of supererogation, will probably so far satisfy the reader, as to 
preclude the necessity of an apology, 

Queries. 

Is there a man in the world who can seriously believe : 

I. That a Catholic colonel, engaged in a plot to murder the Protes- 
tants, would send forty-five miles for a Protestant, servant to a Pro- 
testant gentleman, an inveterate enemy to the Roman Catholics, as an 
accomplice ? 

II. That a journey of a hundred and ten miles could be performed 
in three days and a half, the sun rising about seven, and setting about 

Jive, at a season of the year when the rains, then usually prevalent, 
must have rendered the roads almost impassable ; and by a man who 

• " It was resolved" by the insurgents " not to kill any, but where of necessity 
they should be forced thereunto by opposition." — Temple, 65. 

f It is a subject of astonishment and deep regret that the Rev. Mr. Lingard, from 
whom a more correct course might have been expected, refers to this miserable legend, 
as if it were an authentic document, which has the broad seal of fraud, perjury and 
forgery, as completely stamped on its forehead, as the plot of Titus Oates, Bedlow, 
Dangerfield, and the crafty lord Shaftesbury. This is a melancholy proof how little 
dependence can be placed on history in general, when a respectable historian, with- 
out any temptation to make a misstatement, has fallen into such an egregrioua and 
I may say such an unpardonable error. 



264 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

knew nothing of the business which led to the summons he had re- 
ceived, and who, of course, had no temptation to make any extraor- 
dinary exertion ? 

III. That a stranger, arriving in tlie suburbs of a city an hour af- 
ter sun-set, and fatigued with a long journey, should, without any aid 

from the moon, immediately commence a search for and actually find 
out the lodgings of another stranger, who had arrived a few hours be- 
fore ? 

IV. That sir William Parsons, who had, at nine in the evening, re- 
ceived intelligence of a plot, to explode at ten the next morning, and 
the names of some of the principal conspirators, should be so misguided, 
as to send back the drunken informer, " to get out of Mac-Mahon as 
much certainly of the plot as he could," instead of immediately appre- 
hending the conspirators ? 

V. That being " in town,^' he would have gone " without thctoivn,'''' 
and sent there for such of the council as lived "in toum,''^ when such 
an awful explosion Avas likely to take place? 

VI. That when the informer returned to the lords justices, he would 
be allowed to go to bed, before taking his examinations? 

VII. That the lords justices would have remained all night, and un- 
til five o'clock in the morning, at lord Borlace's house, ivithout the 
town, with closed gates, thus shutting themselves out from the de- 
fence of the castle. 

VIII. That when O'Conally had slept himself sober, and made cir- 
cumstantial deposition of such alarming particulars, the council would 
have been such idiots as to take no other precaution than merely " to 
have a watch set privately upon the lodgings of Mac-Mnhon, and also 
upon lord Macguire," as if they had been plotting to rob orchards or 
hen-roosts, to bar out a school-master, break lamps in a midnight frolic, 
or attack the Avatchmen, instead of plotting to seize the castle, subvert 
the government, and cut the throats of a hundred thousand people? 

IX. That the privy council would not, under such circumstances, 
have instantly apprehended tbe conspirators, instead of " sitting all 
niffht in council," upon one of the simplest points ever discussed, and 
which could have been decided in five minutes, as well as in five hours, 
five weeks, or five years ; on which the most prompt and decisive 
measures were imperiously necessary ; and at a moment when, if there 
were any truth in the statement of O'Conally, the salvation or destruc- 
tion of the state might depend on a single hour? 

X. That having taken the precaution, on Friday night, of " setting 
a watch privately upon the lodgings of lord Macguire," tliereby estab- 
lishin<T their belief tliat he was an accomplice in the plot, they would 
not have arrested him at the same time they arrested Mac-Mahon, but 
waited " till conference with the latter and others, and calling to mind 
Sir William Cole's letter," Avhich led them to " gather that the lord 
Macguire was to be an actor in surprising the castle of Dublin ?" 

XI. That a conspiracy, which Avas to explode throughout the whole 
kingdom on the 23d of October, should be arrested in Leinster, Con- 
naught, and Munster, by the detection of it, in Dublin, a few liours be- 
fore the appointed time ? 

XII. That if it had been intended to murder *' all the Protestants 
throughout the kingdom,'" Avho " Avould not join the conspirators," 
there would have been no intelligence of a single murder on the 25th, 



CHAPTER XXII. 265 

or that, on the 29th, the lords justices should explicitly declare, that 
the insurrection was " confined to the mere old Irish in the province 
of Ulster, and others who had joined them?" 

XIII. That though the lords justices had recourse to the execrable 
expedient of putting Mac-Mahon and others to the rack, they should 
not have extorted a word from any of them, to support the charge of 
murderous intentions, if any conspiracy had existed, for " cutting off 
all the Protestants and English throughout the kingdom ?" 

XIV. That no examinations should have ever been taken of any 
other of tlie conspirators ? 

XV. That if there were a general conspiracy, and of course a large 
assemblage of people in Dublin, for the purpose of seizing the castle 
on the 23d, the lords justices would not have been able, on the morning 
of that day, to apprehend more than two of the leaders and a few com- 
mon servants 1 

XVI. That to execute an enterprize of which the success absolutely 
depended on promptitude and secrecy, people would be collected from 
all the thirty-two counties of Ireland, at various distances, ten, twenty, 
thirty, fifty, one hundred, and one hundred and fifty miles from the 
scene of operation ? 

XVII. And finally, whether, the deposition of O'Conally being in- 
controvertibly established as false, and he of course perjured, in the 
two vital points, — 

I. The universality of the plot, and • 

II. The determination to masacre all who would not join in it. 
There can be any credit whatever attached to the remainder of his 

testimony ? And whether it does not necessarily follow, that the whole 
was a manifest fraud and imposture, designed to provoke insurrection, 
and lead to its usual and inevitable result, — -confiscation ? 

Before the reader decides on answers to these queries, it is hoped he 
will bear in mind the strong facts adduced in Chapter XXI. to prove 
that the seventeenth century was, in the fullest sense of the word, the 
age of perjury, forgery, and fabricated plots. He will there see, that 
in London, the boasted courts of justice were at that period, mere 
slaughter-houses, where the depositions of men, stained and covered 
over with crimes of the most atrocious nature, as the leopard is covered 
with spots, M^ere received without hesitation in cases where the 
lives of innocent men were at stake, and were finally immolated. He 
will likewise behold the horrible fact, that the testimony of a man 
whose perjury ivas delected in open court, and there confessed by him- 
self, was afterwards admitted, and was the means of consigning inno- 
cent persons to the ignominious death of the gallows. 

Let him also bear in mind, that forged plots, supported by perjury, 
had been one of the regular and uniform machines of the government 
of Ireland, from the invasion to that period ; and steadily from the res- 
toration in 1660, till the revolution in 1688; and had produced the for- 
feiture of millions of acres. 

And further, let it not be forgotten, that all the writers. Clarendon, 
Carte, AVarner, Leland, Gordon, &c. agree, that the grand object of 
the lords justices was, in the beginning, to extend the flames of civil 
war ; and, when the insurrection had by these means become general, 



266 VINDICLE HIBEKNIC.E. 

to prevent a cessation of hostilities, for tlie purpose of producing ex- 
tensive confiscations. 

With all these strong facts taken into view, I then invite a decision ; 
and entertain no doubt of a favourable verdict. 

On this subject I have no hesitation in pledging myself, that if any 
independent and upright judge or lawyer, of any court in France, Ger- 
many, England, Scotland, Ireland, or the United States, will pronounce 
affirmative answers to the above queries, so as to imply a belief in the 
reality of the conspiracy, as deposed to by the " Protestant gentleman," 
alias " servant," I will cheerfully suppress this work, and consent to 
have it burned by the hands of the common hangman. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 267 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

Plan for the extermination of all the Catholic inhabitants of Ireland. 

" O thou Almighty ! awful ami supreme ! 

Redress, revenge an injur'd nation's wrongs ! 

Show'r down your curses on the tyrants' heads. 

Arise the judge ! Display your vengeance on thera. 

Blast all their black designs: and let them feel 

The anxious pains with which the country groans." — jyiarlin. 

However shocking and incredible it may appear, it is established, 
by the concurring testimony of Clarendon, Carle, Warner, Leland, 
and nearly all the other writers, that the predominant party in England 
and Ireland, cherished, for a considerable time, the bloodthirsty and 
barbarous project of an utter extirpation of the Catholics, and the estab- 
lishment of new plantations throughout the kingdom.* To the attain- 

• "The favourite object of the Irish governors, and the English parliament, was 
the utter EXTERMINATION of all the Catholic inhabitatits of Ireland ! Their 
estates were already marked out and allotted to their conquerors ; so that they and 
their posterity were consigned to inevitable ruin."-^LELAxi), III. 192. 

" It is evident from their [the lords justices] last letter to the lieutenant, tha'. they 
hoped for an EXTIRPATION, not of the mere Irish only, but of all the old En- 
glish families that -were lioman Catholics^ — Wauneii, 176. 

" The parliament party, who had heaped so many reproaches and calumnies upon 
the king, for his clemency to the Irish, who had grounded their own authority and 
strength upon such foundations as were inconsistent with any toleration of the Ro- 
man Catholic religion, and even xvith any humanity to the Irish nation, and more 
especially to those of the old native extraction the -whole race -whereof they had 
upon the matter s-worn to EXTIRPATE, &c. &c." — Clarendon, I. 215. 

" If it be more needful to dispose of places out of hand, and that it may stand with 
his majesty's pleasure to fill some of them with Irish that are Protestants, and that 
have not been for the EXTIRPATION of the Papist natives, it will much satisfy 
both, and cannot justly be excepted against." — Carte, III, 226. 

" Mr. Brent landed lately here, and hath brought with him such letters as have 
somewhat changed the face of this government from what it was, when the parlia- 
ment pamphlets were received as oracles, their commands obeyed as laws, and EX- 
TIRPATION /);-eac/ie(//or Gospel."— CAnrr., ni. 170. 

" Though extirpatio7i both of nation and religion be not named, yet I conceive 
it is contrived almost in every proposition : and the consideration thereof confirms 
me in a full belief of the malicious practices of the Cootes and Ormsbyes, in the 
county of Roscommon." — Idem, .311. 

" The term of EXTIRPATION is -worn out here, and the intention not acknow- 
ledged to me by the prime authors therein, with whom I have been plain after my 
blunt way." — Idem, 155. 

" The reason of their [the justices] advice is founded upon their darling scheme 
of an EXTIRPATION of the old English proprietors, and a general plantation 
of the -whole kingdom -with a ne-w colony ; for this is the meaning of what they al- 
lege, to show it to be " unsafe for his majesty, and destructive to the kingdom, to 
grant the petitioners' request ; as being altogether inconsistent with the means of 



268 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC^. 

ment of this nefarious object, all their measures were invariably direct- 
ed : nor did ihoy abandon it from its inhumanity, but from finding it 
utterly impracticable. 

— »>>e ® ©«<•— 

raising' a vonsiderable revenue for his crown, of settling religion and civility in 
the kingdom ; and of establishing a firm and lasting peace, to the honour of his ma- 
jesty, the safety of his royal posterity, and the comfort of all his faithful subjects." — 
Cakte, L 391. 

" These difficulties and considerations were of little Weight with the lords justices ; 
who, having got a thin house of commons to their mind, of persons devoted to their 
interests and measures, resolved to improve the opportunity offered, and to get such 
acts passed, as might distress the king, exasperate the bullc of the nation, spread the 
rebellion, and so promote their darling scheme of EXTIRPATING the old pro- 
prietors, a7id making anew plantation of the kingdom." — Idem, 330/ 

" Such considerations as these were not agreeable to the views of the lords justices, 
■who tiad set their tiearts on tlie EXTIRPATION, not only of ttie mere Irish, hut 
likewise of all the old Englisf,. families ttiat were Itomun Cuttiolics, and the making 
of a new plantation all over the kingdom ; in which as they could not fail to have a 
principal share ; so all their reasonings, upon all occasions, were calculated and in- 
tended to promote that their favourite scheme." — Idem , 293. 

" These measures served tiieir own scheme of an EXTIRPATION, by racking 
those gentlemen, whose treatment could not fail of deterring every body from ventur- 
ing themselves into their power for the future." — Idem, 301. 

" These propositions certainly came from some of tliat party of men wliich first 
formed tlie design of an EXTIRPATION of tlie lioman Catholics, and, by publisli- 
ing that design, made tlie rebellion so general as it proved at last. They all 
breathed the same spirit ; and t/io ugh EXTIRPATION both of nation and reli- 
gion was not expressly mentioned, yet it seemed to be contrived effectually in all the 
propositions. They appeared so monstrous and unreasonable, that it was thought 
they could proceed from nothing but a high degree of madness or malice." — Idetn, 
503. 

" There is too much reason to think, that, as the lords justices really wished the 
rebellion to spread, and more gentlemen of estates to be involved in it, that tue rou- 
FEiTUHEs MIGHT BE THE GKEATER, and u general plantation be curried on by a 
new set of English Protestants, all over tlie kingdom, to the kuix and expul- 
sion OF ALL TUE OLD EsGLISH AND NATIVES THAT WEEE RoMAN CaTHOLICS ; SO, 

to promote what they wished, they gave out speeches upon occasions, in:?inuating 
such a design, and that in a slwrt time there would not be a lioman Catholic left in 
the kingdom. It is no small confirmation of this notion, that the earl of Ormonde, 
in his letters of January 27th, and February 25th, 1611-2, to sir W.St. Leger, im- 
putes the general revolt of the nation, then far advanced, to the publishing of such a 
design ; and when a person of his great modesty and temper, the most averse in his 
nature to speak his sentiments of what he could not but condemn in others, and who, 
when obliged to do so, does it always in the gentlest expressions, is drawn to express 
such an opinion, the case must be very notorious. I do not find that the copies of 
those letters are preserved : but the original of sir W. St. Leger's, in answer to them, 
sufficiently shows it to be his lordship's opinion ; for, after acknowledging the re- 
ceipt of these two letters, he uselh these words. The nndue protnulgation of that 
severe determination, to EXTIRPATE t/ie Irish and papacy out of this tcingdom, 
your lordship riglitly apjire/iends to be too unseasonably publislied." — Cabte, 
I. 263. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 359 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Rapacious project for confiscating the possessions of all the Roman 
Catholics of Ireland. 

" Insatiate plunderers — 
Grasp'd the beauteous island's wide domains." 

Jlnonymous. 

Identified with tlie sanguinary project of" exterminating'''' the de- 
voted Roman Catholics, was that of confiscating the whole of their 
estates throughout the island, for the aggrandizement of their sworn 
enemies. The evidences adduced in support of the exterminating 
scheme, might suffice to establish that of confiscation. But I wish to 
" m.ake assurance doubly sure,'''' and shall therefore submit a docnment, 
which cannot fail to satisfy the reader, that I have not overrated the 
extravagant and rapacious thirst that prevailed with the predominant par- 
ty in England and Ireland, for the possessions of the Irish Catholics. 
The insurrection began in Ulster, on the 23d of October, 1641, and 
did not spread into the other provinces for several weeks : nor was it 
in any degree general, till late in December. Even at that period, 
there were very large portions of the country, particularly in Con- 
naught and Munster, which were wholly free from rebellion, notwith- 
standing the eflforts of the lords justices to goad them into it. Yet so 
early as the 16th of February, 1642, (that is, about two months after 
the spread of the insurrection, and less than four months from the ex-, 
plosion of O'Conally's sham plot,) a company of adventurers was 
formed in London, who calculated on the forfeiture of the whole 
island, except what belonged to the Protestants. This extravagant 
project is fortunately recorded, at full length, in the Journals of the 
English House of Commons. These adventurers presented an address 
to Parliament, stating, that when " the work of reducing the kingdom 
of Ireland" [that is of exterminating the most of the Roman Catholics] 
was " finished," there would be " of confiscated lands, such as go 
under the name oi profitable lands,'''' no less than " TEN MILLIONS 
OF ACRES ! !" They proposed to raise money to suppress the re- 
bellion by the sale of a portion of those lands. 

According to sir William Petty's calculation, there were but two- 
thirds of the surface of Ireland, which were called '■'^profitable lands ;'''' 
the remaining third consisting of " highways, loughs, impassable bogs, 
rocks, shrubs, and coarse lands." — Petty, 1. As the whole contents 
of Ireland are only about nineteen millions of acres, it is clear, that 
nothing short of a general extirpation of the natives, and as general a 
confiscation of their estates, was contemplated ; for, deducting the "un- 
profitable lands," and the possessions of the Protestants, there would 

34 



270 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

not remain above ten millions of acres.* This measure was adopted 
from principles of Machiavelian policy, to drive the Catholics to des- 
peration, by shutting the door against all hopes of retreat. Tyrants and 
conquerors, leading devastating armies in their train, have often grasped 
at millions of acres : but, throughout the wide range of the history of 
private rapine and spoil, there is no parallel case, except, perhaps, in 
Hindoslan, during the last hundred years. TEN MILLIONS OF 
ACRES TO BE FORFEITED ! What an appalling idea this in- 
spires of the deplorable state of the victims, and the ferocity, rapacity, 
and barbarity of those who offered them up as holocausts on the altars 
of rapine and bigotry ! 

The English parliament readily acquiesced in the proposal ; and 
immediately passed an act,t for the purpose of carrying it into effect. 
But, as they probably felt ashamed to recognize the extravagant grasp 

* " February 1, 1641-2. 
Proposition made by divers gentlemen^ citizens, and others, for the speedy and 
effectual reducing of the kingdom of Ireland. 

1st. They do compute that less than a million of money will not perfect that work. 
2d. They do conceive, that the work being finished, there will be in that king- 
dom, of confiscated lands, such as go under the name of profitable lands, TEN 
MILLIONS OF ACKES, English measure ! ! ! 

3d. That two millions and a half of those acres, to be equally taken out of the 
four provinces, will sufficiently satisfy those that shall advance this million of money. 
4th. That the two millions and a half of acres may be divided amongst them after 
this proportion, viz. 

For each adventurer of 200^. a thousand acres in Ulster. 

300^. a thousand acres in Connaught. 
450/. a thousand acres in Mnnster, 
600/. a thousand acres in Leinster, 
All English measure. 
Consisting of meadow, arable and profitable pasture : the bogs, -woods, and barren 
rhountains, being cast in, over and above .' 

These two million and a half of acres to be holden in free and common socage of 
the king, as of his castle of Dublin. 

5th. That out of these two millions and a half of acres, a constant rent shall be re- 
served to the crown of England, after this proportion, viz. 

Out of each acre thereof in 

Ulster, - - - - Id. 

Connaught, . - - 2^d. 

Munster, .... 2id. 

Leinster, ... - 3J. 

Whereby his majesty's revenue, out of those lands, will be much improved, be- 
sides the advantage he will have, by the coming to his hands of ALL OTHER 
THE LANDS OF THE REBELS AND THEIR PERSONAL ESTATES, 
without any charge to his majesty." — Journals, 11.435, 

-|- " Whereas, divers worthy and well affected persons, perceiving that many mil- 
lions of acres of the rebels' lands of that kingdom, which go under the name of pro- 
fitable lands, will be confiscate and to be disposed of, and that in that case two 
millions and a half of those acres, to be equally taken out of the four provinces of 
that kingdom, may be allotted for the satisfaction of such persons as shall disburse 
any sums of money, for the reducing of the rebels there, which would eflfectually ac- 
complish the same, have made these propositions ensuing," &c, &c. as before. — 
RUSHWORTH, IV. 556. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 271 

at " ten millions of acres," they made a slight variation in the phrase- 
ology, and substituted " many millions." 

" The commons of England had very early petitioned that the king would not 
alienate any of the escheated lands, that might accrue to the crown from the rebel- 
lion in Ireland : and they had lately proceeded in a scheme for raising money 
from the lands thus expected to escheat. A bill was framed for repaying those who 
should advance certain sums, for suppressing the rebels, (as was pretended,) by 
vesting them with proportional estates in Ireland, on terms highly advantageous to 
a new English plantation. It evidently tended to exasperate the malcontents, and 
to make all accommodation desperate : but it was not on this account less accepta- 
ble to the popular leaders." — Leland, III. 186. 



272 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Nefarious views and operations of the lords justices to drive the Irish 
to desperation, and to extend the insurrection throughout the whole 
kingdom. Munster. St. Leger^s ferocious and murderous career^ 
Connaught. Clanrickarde. Adjournment of Parliament. Back 
and martial law. Insidious and nugatory proclamation of pardon. 
Submissions rejected. Religious persecution. Hypocrisy of cloak- 
ing the sanguinary proceedings of the lords justices with a pre- 
tence of supporting religion and propagating the gospel! .'/ 

" Remember him, the villain, righteous heaven, 
In thy great day of vengeance ! Blast the traitor, 
.Mnd his pernicious counsels, ivho, for -wealth. 
For poxvW, the pride of greatness, or revenge, 
Would keep his 7iative land in civil -wars ; 
When murders, rapes, and massacres prevail ; 
When churches, palaces, and cities blaze, 
And desolation covers all the land." — Roive. 

Having established, beyond the possibility of doubt, by the con- 
curring and unexceptionable testimony of Clarendon, Carte, Leland, 
and Warner, that the execrable pYO}ecto( extirpating the Irish Roman 
Catholics, was long cherished by the ruling party in England and Ire- 
land ; — and, by the journals of the English house of commons, that 
the confiscation of nearly all " the profitable lands," in the kingdom, 
except those owned by Protestants, was unblushingly submitted by 
some of the most influential leaders of public opinion in England, to 
the English parliament, and partly acted upon by them ; it now re- 
mains to detail the various measures adopted by the lords justices to 
accomplish their nefarious purposes ; to spread the flames of civil 
war throughout the whole island ; and, as far as possible, to prevent 
all chance of the restoration of peace. These measures were wonder- 
fully well adapted to the purpose, and could not possibly fail to pro- 
duce the desired effect. 

1. Their ofticers, particularly St. Leger, had recourse to plunder, 
arson, and the slaughter of unoflending inhabitants, to goad the Catho- 
lics into insurrection. 

2. They sacrificed numbers of innocent people by martial law — and 
tortured on the rack sir John Reed and Mr. Barnwell, two gentlemen 
of undoubted loyalty, the former of whom they had invited into Dublin 
to a conference ; and this took place at a time when they invited the 
nobility and gentry of the Pale to a conference in that city. 

3. They banished the lords of the Pale out of Dublin on pain of 
jgath — and left them at the mercy of the northern rebels, with whom 
it was impossible for them to avoid intercourse — and then had them in- 
dicted and prosecuted with fire and sword for that intercourse. 

4. They adjourned the parliament, in order to prevent the adoption 



CHAPTER XXV. 273 

of measures to restore peace, which undoubtedly would have been ac- 
complished had the parliament been allowed to sit. 

5. When they offered a pardon to the insurgents, so few copies were 
published, and it was couched in such terms, and under such restric- 
tions, as rendered it wholly nugatory. 

6. They refused to receive, and forbad their officers to receive, the 
submissions of the insurgents who wished to lay down their arms — and 
treated all those who thus surrendered only as prisoners of war. 

7. They terrified the Irish by the prospect of a most rigorous reli- 
gious persecution, and the enaction in Ireland of the sanguinary English 
code, whereby the pelebration of mass was rendered a capital crime, 
and hearing it was pupished with severe penalties and imprisonment. 

I now proceed to ffie proof of these several accusations — 



I. 

" Their officers, particularly St. Leger, had recourse to plunder, arson, and the 
slaughter of unolfending inhabitants, to goad the Catholics into insurrection." 

Commencement of the insurrection in Munster. 

Theie is no portion of the history of the calamitous period embraced 
in the present chapter, which is more clearly stated, and which more 
fully establishes the nefarious designs of the government and the bar- 
barous system pursued by their agents to goad the natives into insur- 
rection than that which embraces the proceedings in Munster. After 
giving a slight sketch of it in the text, I shall present it to the reader at 
full length in the words of Carte, the historian of the duke of Ormond. 

Notwithstanding O'Conally's deposition, tranquillity prevailed in this 
province till the last day of December, as distinctly appears from Carte, 
infra page 339.* Many of the Roman Catholic nobility and gentry 
had exerted their influence to prevent any disturbance — and had for 
that purpose loyally tendered their services to the government. Lord 
Muskery, a distinguished nobleman, who belonged to that denomina- 
tion, had even offered to raise one thousand men, and to furnish them 
with arms at his own expense, provided, at the close of the insurrec- 
tion, he might retain them, or be reimbursed their cost. This pioposal 
would have been accepted, had not the lords justices been destitute of 
every spark of honesty, and had they not determined on spreading the 
insurrection. It was rejected ; as it would, so far as that province was 
concerned, have defeated their project of extirpation, and a general 
plantation of the whole island. Their object ijere, as elsewhere, was 
to drive the Irish into rebellion ; unfortunately an opportunity soon of- 
fered. 

A rabble of disorderly persons had perpetrated some robberies in 
the county of Tipperary, and among those who were plundered was 
the brother-in-law of the president, W. St. Leger, a sanguinary ruf- 
fian, who, with two troops of horse, made an incursion after the rob- 
bers, and killed without mercy numbers of men and women, wholly 

* In the preceding pages, it appears to have been stated by some of the writers 
that the insurrection spread into Munster, in the beignning, by others in the middle 
of December. It is here satisfactorily established that it began the very last day of 
that month. 



274 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

innocent of the depredation. He detached a captain Peisley with a 
party of troops in a different direction, who signalized himself by 
similar murderous exploits. The nobility and gentry of the province, 
justly alarmed at those proceedings, and dreading that they would 
provoke a general rising of the people, waited on St. Leger to remon- 
strate with him on the consequences to be apprehended from this 
course of conduct. He treated them with rudeness and ferocity — and 
in a violent passion told them " they were all rebels — that he would 
not trust one of them ; and that he thought it more prudent to hang the 
best of them."* 

>/ 

• " It was the middle of December, before, any one gjMitleman in 'ihe province of 
Munster appeared to favour the rebellion ; many of them had shoihh themselves 
zealous to oppose it, and had tendered their service for that end. Lord Muskerry, 
who had married a sister of the earl of Ormonde's, offered to raise a thousand men 
at his own charge ; and if the state could not supply them vcith arms, he was ready 
to raise money by a mortgage of his estate to buy them, if, when the service was 
ended, he might either keep the arms, or be reimbursed what they cost him. Nor 
did any signs of uneasiness or disaffection appear among the gentry, till sir W. St. 
Leger came to Clonmell, which was on the first of that month, three days before the 
action I have just now related. There had been, a few days before, some robberies 
committed in the county of Tipperary, by a rabble of the common sort and a parcel 
of idle young fellows of the baronies of Eliogarty, Killemanna, Clanwilliam, 
and Middlethyrde, who, as soon as they had got their prey, divided it, and retired to 
their several parishes. Among other English who suffered, a great number of cows 
and sheep were taken away from Mr. W. Kingsmill of BalJyowen, brother-in-law 
to the lord president. Sir W. St. Leger, upon notice thereof, came in two or three 
days after with two troops of horse in great fury to Bally owen ; and being informed 
the cattle were driven into Eliogarty he marched that way. As he set forth, he 
killed three persons at Ballyowen, who were said to have taken up some mares of 
Mr. Kingsmill's ; and not far off at Grange he killed or haiiged four innocent 
labourers; at Bally O'jyTiirrin six ; and at Bally garburt eight ; and burnt seve- 
ral houses. Nor was it without great importunity and intercession, that he spared 
the life of Mr. Morris Magrath, (grandson to Milerus archbishop of Cashel, in 
queen Elizabeth's time,) a civil, well bred gentleman, it being plainly proved that 
he had no hand in the prey ; notwithstanding which proof he still kept that gentle- 
man in prison. From thence captain Peisley marching to Armaile, killed there 
seven or eight men and -women, -whom he found standing about in the streets near 
their oivn doors inoffensively : and passing over the river Ewyer early in the morn- 
ing, marched to Clonoulta, where, meeting Philip Ryan, the chief farmer of the 
place, a very honest and able man, not at all concerned in any of the robberies, go- 
ing with his plough-iron in a peaceable manner to the forge, where he used to have 
it mended, he without any inquiry either gave orders for, or connived at his being 
killed, as appeared by his cherishiiig the murderer. From thence he went to Goellyn 
bridge, where he killed and hanged seven or eiglit of Dr. Gerald FenneVs tenants, 
honest inliabitants of the place, and burned several houses in the tuivn ; the cattle 
of the country people, which he met in his march, being all taken up by him, and 
pent in great numbers into the county of Cork. 

?' The captain went from thence to meet the lord president, where several of the 
chief nobility and gentry of the country, being surprized at these rash and cruel 
proceedings, waited upon his lordship, with their complaints, which were rejected, 
and the captain applauded for -what he Jiad done. Among these gentlemen were 
James Butler lord Baron of Dunboyne, Thomas Butler of Kilconel, James Butler of 
Killveylagher, Theobald Butler of Armaile, Richard Butler of Ballynekill, Philip 
O'Dwyer, and divers others of good quality. They observed to the president, hoiv 
generally the people -were exasperated by tliose inconsiderate cruelties, running 
distractedly from house to house : and that they were on the point of gathering to- 
gether in great numbers, not knowing what they had to trust to, and what was likely 
^Q be their fate ; they told him that they waited upon his lordship to be informed how 



CHAPTER XXV. 275 

To the candid reader I appeal to decide whether this outrageous and 
brutal conduct to noblemen and gentlemen of the highest quality in the 

affairs stood, and that they coveted nothing more than to serve his majesty, and pre- 
serve the peace ; and desired that he wovild be pleased to qualify them for it with 
authority and arms, in which case they wonld not fail to suppress the rabble, and 
secure the peace of the county. 

" The president did not receive theif representation and offer, in the manner they 
expected ; but in a hasty, furious manner answered them, ' that they -were alt 
rebels, and he -,iiould not trust one sotil of them ; hut thought it more prudent to 
hang' the best of them :^ and in this extraordinary passion he continued all the while 
these and other persons of quality, their neighbours, were waiting upon him. This 
made them all withdraw, and return to their houses, much resenting his rudeness 
and severity, as well as very uncertain about their own safety ; some of them imagin- 
ing, that this distrusting of their loyalty, and destroying of their reputations, was 
the preface to a design of taking away their lives. From Clonmell, sir W. St. 
Leger marched into the county of Waterford, and his soldiers in the way, as they 
went and returned from the rout of the Wexford rebels, killed several harmless 
poor people, not at all concerned in the rebellion, or in the plunder of the country ; 
which also incensed the gentlemen of that county, and made them prepare for stand- 
ing on their defence. 

" This furious manner of proceeding seems to have been the effect of his particu- 
lar resentment at his brother Kingsmill's losses ; for Piers Butler, viscount Ikerrini 
having pursued some of the Tipperary rabble, who had plundered Brercton, Gunner, 
and others of his English tenants at Grugah and islands near Lismalyn, and having 
rescued the prey, taken some of the robbers prisoners to Callan, brought the cattle 
home to his tenants, and at their request, conveyed them, their families, goods and 
stock safe to Ballynekill, when he waited on the president, after his return from 
Waterford, at Clonmell, and tendered his service to preserve the peace of the coun- 
try, the president in great -wrath called him traitor, and said he might have pre- 
served Mr. Kingsmill's cattle and goods, if he had pleased. Lord Ikerrin brought 
witnesses to prove, that he was at the very same time in pursuit of his own English 
tenants' cattle ; yet sir W. St. Leger was in too great a heat to hear, or afford him 
any countenance, but parted with him in that passion. 

" After the president's return into the county of Cork, the gentry of Tipperary, 
considering the violence of his proceedings, and the aptness of the vulgar sort, (un- 
der colour thereof,) to plunder their English neighbours, laboured all they could 
within their respective districts and neighbourhoods for a while to correct their 
insolence. But notwithstanding all their care, the common sort were so addicted 
to plunder, that about the 6th of December, they assembled about five hundred 
of them together, and marched in a body<ftowards Cashel in order to take the 
city and pillage the English : but several gentlemen of quality in the county, 
and some of the Roman Catholic clergy of Cashel, hearing of their resolutions, 
met them in their march, and by fair words and sermons, diverted them from 
that wicked attempt, and prevailed with them to return, without offering violence to 
any body. The country people, however, were still in a great ferment, and pretended 
that they could not sleep safely in their own houses, whilst Cashel was a receptacle 
for the president's troops to come thither, and from thence to rush in among them 
and destroy them. Yet this broke out into no new outrage or attempt, till after the 
defection of the Pale, when Philip O'Dwyer of Dundrum, (one of the gentlemen so 
ill treated by the president at Clonmell,) taking advantage of this general resent- 
ment, gathered a body of them together on, the last day of December, and marched 
to Cashel, He took the place, and endeavoured, (as is said,) to secure the goods of 
all the English inhabitants there, and put them together into a storehouse; but 
whatever he and some of the gentlemen that were with him could do, to prevent 
bloodshed, some of the rabble that were kinsmen and friends of Philip Ryan and 
others that had been lately murdered, finding out some of the English there, killed 
thirteen of them, whose names are particularly ipentioned. But all the rest of the 
English were saved by the inhabitants of the place in their houses, and had the goods 
which they confided to them safely restored. Dr. Samaal Pullen, chancellor of 



276 VINDICI.E HIBERNIC^. 

kingdom, without a shadow of justification, could have arisen from 
any other motive than a determination to force them into rebellion ? 
This alone can account for it satisfactorily. They could not be secure 
of their lives for an hour, while they remained unarmed and defence- 
less, and while such a ruffian, uttering such threats, had at his com- 
mand a band of cut-throats, ready to slaughter whomsoever he pointed 
out as objects of his vengeance, and victims of their cruelty. 

That the dangers impending over the people of the province, and 
the murders, robberies, and other outrages perpetrated by St. Leger and 
Peisley, rendered resistance perfectly justifiable, no man of sound mind 
will dare deny. Compared with these provocations, the grievances of 
the English, which led to the revolution in 1688, vanish into thin air; 
and any man who celebrates and honours that glorious event, and vitu- 
perates the rising of the people of Munster, is grossly inconsistent, 
and must be either a hypocrite, or under the dominion of invincible 
prejudice. 

However, notwithstanding these grievous provocations, and the clear 
and unequivocal justification afforded by St. Leger's barbarous con- 
duct, as well as the dangers to which the people of the province were 
hourly exposed, no rising took place for three weeks. By this time, 
the lords and gentry of the pale had been goaded into insurrection, by 
similar outrages; the sinister plans of the lords justices had become 
fully developed ; and the alternatives presented to the view of the 
Roman Catholics appeared to be resistance or a blind submission to 
military execution at the pleasure of a mercenary soldiery, headed by 
such a man as St. Leger. About the close of the month of December, 
a Mr. O'Dwyer collected a number of the country people in arms, and 
attacked and took Cashel, where the English soldiers were received, 
and whence they had issued to plunder and slaughter the Irish. This 
event occurred the latter end of December ; and, according to Carte, 
was the commencement of the insurrection in Munster : and I trust 
that it will be admitted that St. Leger has the undivided claim to the 
infamy of the horrors that succeeded. The only error of the people 
of Munster was not having taken arms early enough, and with suffi- 
cient unanimity to have insured success. 

Cashel and dean of Clonfert, with his wife and children, was preserved by Fr. James 
Saul, a Jesuit. Several other Romish priests distinguished themselves on this occa- 
sion by their endeavours to save the English ; particularly Fr. Joseph Everard and 
Redmon English, both Franciscan friars, who hid some of them in their chapel, and 
even under the altar ; which was proved by some of those so preserved, at the trial 
of the latter at Clonmcll assizes, in 1652 ; upon which he was acquitted, and had a 
privilege granted him of living in the country ; the like offer being made to Fr. 
Joseph Everard. And soon after, the English, who had been thus preserved, were, 
according to their desire, safely conveyed into the county of Cork, by a guard of the 
Irish inhabitants of Cashel ; who acted with so much good faith in the aflair, that 
several of the convoy were wounded in defending them from the violence of a 
rabble, that waylaid and attacked them upon the mountains in their passage. 

" This enterprize of Cashel I have mentioned the first of any in Munster, because 
it was the first attempted, merely bij tlie fury of the populace, occasioned by im- 
politic acts of cruelty, exercised -without a just distinction hetiveen the innocent 
and the guilty ; a practice attended with very unhappy consequences in the course 
of the troubles of Ireland." — Carte, I. 264. 



CHAPTEK XXV. * 277 

Nefarious attempts to spread the insur rcction generally in Connaitght. 

TlleTe was no nobleman in the kingdom, Protestant or Catliolic, of 
more exemplary lidclity than the earl of Clanrickarde. He had aided 
' lord Ranelagh, the president of Connaught in the preservation of the 
peace of that province. They were for a considerable time siiccessfuli 
notwithstanding the efforts of the partizans of the administration to ex- 
tend the flames of civil war there. 

Lord Ranelagh, after struggling for a considerable time against the 
difficulties with which he was environed, finally resigned his office—^ 
and the insurrection spread through the cliief part of Connaught. — 'I'he 
earl of Clanrickarde, with great exertions and at considerable expense, 
succeeded by his influence, which was transcendently great in the pro- 
vince, in reducing the town and neighbourhood of Galway to submis- 
sion,* almost without bloodshed — and had it pleased the government, 
it would have remained loyal till the end of the war. But his conduct 
was highly disapproved by the lords justices,! and by the English par-- 
liament, which passed some strong resolutions of condemnation. F. 
Willoughby, governor of the fort, and lord Forbes, commander of a 
body of troops on board some vessels stationed in the bay, in obedience 
to the views of the justices,! who wished to destroy the cflects of the 

* " This submission was made on the 13th of May, mucli to tlio surprise of the 
world and the honour of the carl of Clanrickarde, wlio, by his own strength, credit, 
aiid interest, without the least aid or supply, and almost ivitJioitt any countenance 
from the state, had fovmd means to quell so dangerous an insurrection, to reduce one 
of the strongest and most important towns in the kingdom, almost without Mood- 
shed, and to perform a work attended with such difficulties, that nobody else could 
have surmounted them with much greater forces." — Caute, I. 322. 

"{""The lords justices would not hear of any cessation oY treaty with the rebels : 
they absolntelif disliked his lordshij/s receiving- the submission, and granting his 
protection to tlie toivn of Galway ; and sent him express orders to receive no more 
stibtnissions from any persons -whatever, but to prosecute the rebels and all tlieir 
adherents, harboiirers and relievers -zvit/i fire and sword. To prevent the like 
submissions and protections in all other places, they issued out a general order to 
the commanders of all garrisons, " not to presume to hold any correspondence, treaty, 
Intelligence or intercourse with any of the Irish and Papists dwelling or residing in 
any place near or about their garrisons, or to give protection, immunity, or dispen- 
sation from spoil, buriiing, or other prosecution of xvar to utiy of them; but to 
prosecute all such rebels, harbourers or relievers of rebels from place to place with 
fire and sword, according to former commands and proclamations in that behalf." — 
Idem, 323. 

:t: " The administration of Ireland were so far from supplying Clanrickarde's 
Wants, that they were glad of an occasion to traverse the measures which he took 
with the greatest wisdom and success, for the peace and quiet of the country. The 
reader must remember the dislike they shewed, at the agreement which he had made 
with the town of Gallvvay, and the protections he had given. Had any other man 
been governor of the fort besides captain Willoughby, that pacification might have 
lasted to the end of the war. But he was young, and violent; and the pacification, 
which had cost lord Clanrickarde a deal of trouble, was no sooner completed hardly, 
than he broke it; burning, and laying waste the villages for some miles into the 
country; destroying the suburbs ; firing Ids artillery for a whole day together into 
the town ; and causing snc/t a general discontent and resentment, that it put all 
lord Clanrickarde^ s wisdom, care, and. interest to tlie siretc/i to prevent an open 
insurrection. Even some of his friends and relations were so exasperated, at the 
outrageous behaviour of the governor, which was little short of madness, as to 
desert his lordship, and engage with the rebels." — Wahx.f.h, 223. 

35 



278 VINDICLE HIBERNIOiE. 

pacification arranged with the inhabitants of Galwa)'', were indefatiga- 
ble in their exertions to provoke the earl and the inhabitants to revolt. 
The excesses of whicli they were guilty, were of the most dishonour- 
able and disgraceful character.* Churches were exposed to sacrilegious 
violation — and even the bodies of the interred could not escape the 
grossest indignities. They Avere torn from their graves,! a'nd exposed 
as carrion on the highways — and what is more remarkable, and more 
clearly developes the nefarious views of these officers, is, that they 
displayed more violence and perpetrated more outrages against those 
who were friendly to the government,! than against those whose hos- 

* Extract of a letter from lord Clanrickarde to lard Ormonde. 

" Scarce any day passes without great complaints of both the captains of the fort 
and ship sallying out tvith their soldiers, and trumpet, and troop of horse, burn- 
ing and breaking open houses, taking aivay goods, preying of the cattle, with ruin 
and spoil, rather than supply to themselves ; not oidy upon those that arc protected, 
but upon them that -were most forward to relieve and assist them, and not sparing 
mine frequently upon fancy or rumor, without examining the occasion ; shooting his 
ordinance into the town or threatening to do it; keeping disorderly centries at every 
gate ; abusing those that ofler to go out ; offering to take them prisoners to the fort, 
and to exercise martial law upon them ; killing aiid robbijtg poor people that come 
to tnarket, burniiig their fisher boats, and not suffering; them to go out. 

" CLANRICKARDE AND ST. ALBANS."— Carte, IIL 98. 

July, 1642. 

" That which I most apprehend will kindle a flame beyond my power to extin- 
guish, is a late strange proceeding of Captain Willoughby's, who came out into the 
country, now all quiet on this side of Gallway, with his trumpet and troop of horse, 
for which I am sure he has no commission ; and upon some slight pretence of a com- 
plaint of a small extorsion, he besets a house, and takes prisoner a sergeant of a 
company under the command of my lord Clanmoris, a well experienced soldier, binds 
him, takes him to the fort, and there immediately hangs him ; rejects a very respec- 
tive letter of my lord's unto him not vouchsafing an answer. 

" CLANRICKARDE AND ST. ALBANS."— /Jem, 220. 

To Lord Ormonde. 

j- " Whilst I was at Tircllan in treaty with his lordship, and that my lord presi- 
dent was then with him in the fort, / could see the country on fre, my tenants' 
goods and houses burnt, and four or five poor innocent creatures, -women and 
children, inhutnanlt/ killed by some of his forces. And his lordship at his landing 
having taken possession of our lady's church on the west of Gallway, their ancient 
burial place, they did not only deface the church, but digged up the graves, and 
burnt the coffins and bones of the dead. These kind of proceedings make such 
assistance more destructive than beneficial to us. 

" CLANRICKARDE AND ST. ALBANS."— Carte, IIL 109. 

October 20, 1G42. 

t " Forbes landing his men took the castle of Glin, the ancient seat of Thomas 
Fitzgerald, commonly known by the name of the knight of the valley, a gentle- 
?nan who had always assisted the English, arid never had appeared in the rebel- 
lion. Other officers often plundered all promiscuously ; but this commander seems 
to have picked out such as continued in t/ieir duty, to be the objects of his fury and 
avarice. It was indeed no impolitic course, if his view was to make the rebellion 
universal ; since a distinction of persons was certainly necessary to show, that an 
utter extirpation, (which was the table talk of the Puritan party,) was not really 
intended." — Idem, I. 347. 

" As soon as he got into the bay of Gallway, he landed some men on the Thomond 
side, burnt the houses and wasted the lands of Darnel and Torlagh O' Bryan, the 
only two gentlemen in the county that had riot Joined in the rebellion, who had pre- 
served and relieved the English to the best of their power, and had as.sisted with 
their long boats and provisions for the relief of the fort, when it was besieged. Lord 



CHAPTER XXV. 279 

tillty was well known. Against the tenants and property of lord 
Clanrickarde they vented a peculiar degree of rage and virulence. Not- 
withstanding all the violence ofiered to him, his fidelity to the govern- 
ment remained unshaken to the last. I am far from regarding his con- 
duct as laudable. On the contrary, his forbearance was carried beyond 
the bounds of right, and became, I think, highly culpable towards his 
country. Had he shown some of the true Roman spirit, and headed his 
countrymen, a different result would probably have taken place, and 
his nation would not have been groveling in the dust ever since. But 
the extent of this forbearance only places the wicked conduct of the 
administration in the stronger relief. 

To this case of the earl of Clanrickarde, I shall add that of the earl 
of Antrim, to prove that the most unspotted loyalty and the most meri- 
torious services were wholly unavailing to secure the Irish Roman 
Catholics from depredation and confiscation. This nobleman had by a 
large and seasonable supply of provisions saved Coleraine frome being 
forced to surrender when besieged by the Ulster rebels. Monroe, a 
Scotch general, notorious for his rapine came, sometime afterwards, 
into his neighbourhood, to whom he offered every assistance in his 
power, and invited him to a splendid entertainment, of which Monroe 
partook. As soon as it was over, the general took him prisoner, and 
seized his castle, and all his houses, as a return for his services to the 
state and hospitality to himself.* 

II. The Courts Martial and the Rack. 

The armies sent out from Dublin to " kill, burn, and destroy,*' al- 
though they made awful havoc, did not slaughter all they met with. 
They brought into the city numbers of prisoners, indeed almost all 
who escaped their swords, with little regard to innocence or guilt — 
as may be fairly presumed from the ferocious orders they received. 
When the prisoners became too numerous in the city, it was deter- 
mined to clear the prisons and execute the unfortunate wretches by 
martial law,t which, in the existing temper of the ruling powers, was 

Forbes declared openly against the pacification, which had been disapproved by the 
House of Commons of England ; and that though it was made by the king's autho- 
rity, vested in the governor of the county, yet he who was independent of any other 
command whatever in Ireland, did not think himself bound thereby." — Idem, 346. 

* " The earl of Antrim had come at the latter end of April from Middinston to 
his seat of Dunlace, a strong castle by the sea-side, in the county of Antrim ; and 
after his arrival there, had found means to supply Coleraine, -which had been blocked 
up by the Irish, and was reduced to extremity, tvith 100 beefs, sixty loads of corn, 
and other prolusions at his own expense. He had ofiered Monroe his service and 
assistance for securing of the country, in the peace of which he was greatly interested, 
by reason of his great estate, the rents whereof he could not otherwise receive. 
The major general made him a visit at Dunlace, where the earl received him with 
many expressions of gladness, and had provided for him a great entertainment ; 
but it was no sooner over, than Monroe made him a prisoner, and seized the castle, 
leaving his lieutenant colonel there with a garrison for the guard of both, and put- 
ting the rest of the earl's houses into the hands of the marquis of Argyle's men."^ 
Carte, I. 310. 

f " Many prisoners were made upon this expedition ; and as it was troublesome, 
expensive, and might be dangerous to keep so many at Dublin, the administration 
were resolved to thin them. Men of estates were exempted, in order to preserve the 
king's escheats upon attainders; but the rest were given up to martial la-», under 



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280 vindiclt: hibeknio.t;. 

a more form. The miiribei-s thus immolated wore enormously great.* 
Tiio liloody-minded Coote was jrovcriior of the city and provost of the 
court martial. Priests, monks, and friars, wore regarded as so nianv 
beast.> of prey, and executed with as little ceremony as if they were.t 
In a word, the city wore the appearance of a large human slaughter- 

a pretence that they could not find freeholders enough fur juries ; and yet at the 
same time, there were bills of iiulictincnt for high treason found in two days against 
all the lords and gentlemen in the counties of Mcath, Wicklovv, and Dublin, and 
three hundred persons of (luality and estate in the county of Kildare. Thpsc mili- 
tary executions, therefore, fell entirely upon the poorer sort, who had no estates to 
forfeit ; and particularly on (he priests and friars, who were generally charged as the 
chief exciters of the rebellion, and whose execution would most exasperate the 
Irish." — WAiiNtn, 161. 

* " It was certainly a miserable spectacle, to sec everi/ daii mimhers of persons exe- 
cuted by martial law, at the discretion or rather caprice of sir C. Coote, a hot-headed 
and bloody man, and as such accounted by the English and Protestants. Yet this 
was the man, whom the lords justices picked out to entrust with a commission of 
martini law, to put to death rebels or traitors, i. e. all such as he should deem to be 
so ; which he performed with deligid, and a wanton kind of cruelty. And ytt all 
this while the justices sat frequently in council, and the judges in their usual 
seasons sat in their vespcGtivc courts, spectators of, and countenancing, so extra- 
vagant a tribunal as sir C. Coote's, and so illegal an execution of justices." — 
Carte, I. 179. 

f " The cruelties of the martial law under Sir C. Coote have been already men- 
tioned : but about this time, when it was thought politic to discourage the submis- 
sions, which were growing frequent. Father Biggins, a very quiet, pious, inoffen- 
sive man, who had put himself under the protection of Lord Ormonde, and whom 
his lordship had brought with him to Dublin, was one morning seized ; and rvithout 
any trial, or delay, or ffix^ing his lordship any notice of the intention, by sir C. 
Coote's order hanged. ¥. Higgins officiated as a priest at Naas and in that neigh- 
bourhood ; had distinguished himself greatly by saving the Englis/i in those parts 
from spoil and slaughter ; and had relieved several whom he found had been strip- 
ped and plundered ; so far was he from engaging in the rebellion, or giving any eur 
couragement to it. Lord Ormonde had therelore taken him under his proteption ; 
and when he heard of the execution of this innocent man, for no other reason than 
his being a priest, his lordship was very warm in his expostulation with the justices 
upon it at the council board. They pretended to be surprised ; and excused them- 
selves for having had any other hand in the alVair than giving sir C. (>oote a general 
authority to order such executions without consulting them. Lord Ormonde told 
them very plainly that he did not expect they would order, or sutler one so well 
recommended to him, and so justly taken under his protection, to be put to death in 
that manner ; and insisted that ('oote should be tried for what he jiad done, as having 
hanged an innocent, nay, a deserving subject, without examination, without trial, 
and without a particular warrant io autliorise him in it. The dispute was warm 
on both sides. The justices, who had either directed him to do it, or were deter- 
mined to support their favourite in a proceeding which was agreeable to them, would 
not give him up : and lord Ormonde threatened to throw up his commission, vuiless 
they gave him satisfaction. This was probably the very thing they wanted : and 
therefore, though he highly resented this indignity, as he had good reason to do, yet 
considering the ill consequences to the king and to his country, by throwing up his 
commission at this juncture, he resolved not to gratify them in parting with it. 
Their hanging a man of character at all, deserving in many respects, and exception- 
able in noi\e but his religion, inclines one to (Iiink, that they intended this war should 
he understood to be a war of religion. But their hanging him in such a manner, by 
martial law, by sir C Coote's authority only, against justice and humanity when 
brought thither and protected by lord Ormonde, could be only meant to prevent all 
submissions, or to offer such an indignity to his lordship, as should provoke him to 
resign hjo commission, and to oppose them no Icinger in council." — Wahnkr, 1 S2, 



CHAPTER XXV. 281 

house, where victims were daily offered up to all the horrible passions 
thai disgrace human nature* 

To the horrors ol" martial law, formidable enough at all times, and 
.under the most favourable circumstances, but horrible under such a 
tiger as sir C. Coote, was now added the illegal and detestable expe^- 
dient of the rack,* employed for the purpose, not as the juaticeg pre- 
tended, of extorting confessions of guilt, but of deterring the nobility 
and gentry of the pale, from venturing to Dublin, whom very shortly 
afterwards they summoned to meet them there, to consult on affairs of 
state — and whom, in the event of not coming, they intended to de- 
joounce, and actually did denounce, as rebels. 

The lords and gentry of the pale had drawn up a petition to the king, 
.containing a statement of the complicated grievances under which 
they laboured, and praying relief. They applied to sir John Read to 
take charge of it, which he readily undertook. Not having any idea 
of concealment, and not regarding the act as criminal, or implicating 
him in any danger, he applied to sir William Parsons for a pass to go 
fo England. He ivas invited into Dublin, under pretence of a conference 
— but was on his arrival most treacherously seized, and put to the rack, 
in order, as was said, to extort some confessions from him, although it 
was never pretended that he had been implicated in any illegal act what- 
ever. He was afterwards sent to England — attainted in Dublin as a 
traitor — his estate confiscated — and his wife and children turned out 
of doors without redress. f 

Christopher Barnewell, a venerable old man, sixty-six years of age, 
Avas next put to the rack and tortured ; but the extremity of his suffer- 
ing could not force him to make confessions of guilt, being wholly in- 
nocent himself, and not privy to the guilt of others. Their cruelty to 
him excited the detestation of all good men.:j: 

* " They resolved to supply the want of lee^al evidence, by putting some prisoners 
to the rack. They began with Hugh Mac-Mahon, who had been seized on the in- 
formation of O'Conally, and from whom they expected some important discoveries. 
Sut torture could force nothing from him essential to their great purpose." — Le- 
i.Axn, III. 189. 

j" This examination, however, being not enough to the point to satisfy men of 
sense, the next day sir John Read, by the same stretch of arbitrary power, -was 
brought to the rack. This gentleman was of the privy chamber to the king, a lieu- 
tenant colonel in the late disbanded army, and engaged by the lords of the pale to 
carry over their petitions to the king and queen. He intended to make no secret of 
his journey, and therefore sent a letter by a servant of his own to Parsons, to de- 
sire a pass ; who in answer, required him to repair to Dnblin, that tlie council 
might confer -with tiim.'''' — Warneti, 1 77. 

" Sir J, Read was sent a prisoner to England ; and whilst absent, and in those 
circumstances, -was indicted and outlaxued for high treason ; his lady and goods 
■zvere seized upon, and site and Iiis cfiildren turned out of doors : and when she 
petitioned to these worthy justices to assign her some part of her effects to maintain 
her family, they absolutely refused to allow her any, though the barons of the exche- 
quer, to whom her petition was referred, certified, that it did not appear to them, 
what her husband's offence was, nor how, nor for what cause the crown might be 
entitled to his goods or other estate. After such proceedings as these, what fidelity 
had the king to expect from these ministers : and tvfiat merci/ could t/iose fatter 
tliemselves ivith, ^vlio laid doiim tlieir arms and submilted to them P" — Wah- 
NEH, 178. 

+ " The racking Mac-Mahon and sir J. Read, did not content this merciless ad- 
jniiiistration ; and so Mr. Barnewall of Kilbrew was put to the same torture. He 



282 VINDICI^ HIBEKNIC^. 



III. Banishment of the lords of the pale from Dublin, under pain of 

death. 

It forms an important feature in the insurrection in Leinster, that 
previous to that event, there had not been a good understanding be- 
tween the Ulster Irish and the inhabitants of the pale. Very consider- 
able jealousies and hostilities had existed on both sides. And when 
the revolt took place in Ulster, the nobility and gentry of the pale re- 
paired to Dublin, and tendered their services to the lords justices to 
preserve that quarter of the country from the incursions which might 
naturally be expected from the insurgents. This procedure threw no 
small difficulty in the way of those officers, as a full and complete com- 
pliance with the request would have marred their grand project of ex- 
tirpation. They could not refuse altogether. But they complied in 
such a way as to render their compliance wholly nugatory. They or- 
dered 300 stand of arms for the county of Louth, by far the most ex- 
posed to danger — 500 for lord Gormanston — and 900 for other persons 
whose names or locations are not specified. These paltry supplies 
could answer no purpose against the insurgents, who, at an early period 
of the insurrection, had 20,000 men in the field. But lest they should 
be able to do any good, the 300 ordered for Louth were countermanded 
before delivery, and the 500 delivered to lord Gormanston were, by 
order of the lords justices, retaken by sir Henry Tichborne, within one 
week of the delivery ! The remainder were reclaimed in like manner ; 
but were scattered among so many difierent hands, that only one hun- 
dred and fifty were recovered. 

They then disarmed the Roman Catholics of Dublin — installed, as 
we have seen, sir 0. Coote, of blood-stained memory, as governor of 
the city-— and banished, by three successive proclamations,* the nobi- 

— •••►>©©©«<•— 

was one of the most considerable gentlemen of the pale ; a venerable old man of 
sia-ty-six years of affe, delightincf in husbandry, a lover of quiet, aiid highly re- 
spected in his country. He had sent intelligence to the government of the motion 
of the Ulster rebels in the month of November ! and the only thing that could be 
said against him was, that he had obeyed the sherift"'s summons for the meeting at 
the hill of Crofty, when lord Gormanston declared an union with them. It does not 
appear that he approved the union, or that he actually had joined them upon any oc- 
casion ; and so little did the ministers get by putting him to the torture, that it only 
servedto make his innocence, and their own inhumanity, the more conspicuous /" — 
Waiineh, 179. 

* " bt the lords justices and cottncie, 
" William Parsons, Jo. Borlace. 

" For great and weighty reasons of state concerning highly the peace and safely 
of this city and kingdom, we do hereby in his majesty's name strictly charge and 
command all manner of persons of what degree and condition soever, who are not 
dwellers in this city or suburbs, that within one hour, after publishing this procla- 
mation, they depart from the s^tburbs of this city, and return to their oxtm dwell- 
ings, and that upon pain of death to be presently execjited upon them, if any of 
them be found here after that time. And all householders in the suburbs to whom 
any such may come, are to be equally guilty with such contemners, if they lodge or 
entertain any of the said persons hereby required to depart. 

" Given at his majesty's castle of Dublin, 23d October, 1641. 
R. Djllon, Fh. Willoughbt, 

Ad. Loftus, Ja. Ware, 
Jo. Temi'lt:, Ron. Meuedith." — Nalsox, If. G37. 



CHAPTER XXV, 



!283 



lily and gentry of the pale from the city, whither they had fled for 
security,* thus driving them to their country seats, wholly destitute of 
the means of defence against the incursions of the insurgents, of whom 
an immense body had entered the pale. 

Their situation was therefore the most irksome and delicate that can 
he conceived. They were liable to be laid under contribution by the 
insurgents, who, if exasperated by resistance, were disposed to pro- 
ceed to extremities with them. On the other hand, if they afforded 
them any relief — had any intercourse with them — or were even seen 
to converse with them, they were liable to indictment and punishment 
for treason. Some persons were actually indicted for being seen to 
converse with the rebels. And the pretext for the atrocious and un- 
provoked murders subsequently perpetrated at Santry was, that the 
wretched victims had relieved the rebels with refreshments, which they 
were unable to withhold. 

But this step, which was a considerable advance towards the grand 
object in view, did not satisfy the lords justices. Although they were 
every day more sure of their prey — they were determined to accelerate 
the acquisition — to which end they finally left them no alternative but 
a recourse to arms or the utmost rigour of the law. 

On the 3d of December, they issued a summons for the lords and 
gentry of the pale to appear in Dublin on the 8th, to consult on some 
affairs of state, promising security for their persons, although about 
three weeks before, they had, in proof of a total want of confidence, 
withdrawn the arms delivered them — and only two weeks previously 
had banished them from the city.t This summons could not be re- 
garded^ otherwise than as a snare to entrap them.| The gentlemen 

* " This was a rigorous treatment of many gentlemen of the pale particularly, 
who had retired to Dublin as a place of security for their persons, -whilst their goods 
and cattle were plundered by the robbers ; who took advantage of these troubles 
to spoil and plunder, though they did not join the rebels. This measure was not 
only therefore very inconvenient to those gentlemen, but it proved in the end to 
many of them very fatal. For they -were not only obliged to return to their houses 
■withotU arms, exposed in a short time after to the violence of the rebels, whom they 
were unable to resist, but also to pay them contribution for leape to live m quiet, 
and to have a constant intercourse luith them ; -which in the eye of the la-w is 
treason, and which induced several to join with them. This was particularly the 
case of sir Rob. Talbot ; who, after engaging against the rebels in defence of the 
English, for which his two best houses were burnt down, and he had retreated with 
his family to Dublin, where he had offered to raise men if the cou?icil would furnish 
him with arms, had not leave to remain at Dublin, but was forced by this proclama- 
tion, upon pain of death, to depart he knew not whither, and therefore in the end to 
enter into the confederacy against his will." — Warner, 121. 

-j- " Some have not scrupled on this occasion to impute the conduct of the lords 
justices to their avarice, and to surmise, that they never expected those noblemen 
would comply with their summons; and that all the measures they took at the same 
time were taken expressly with a design to terrify them from trusting themselves in 
Dublin, and from thence to take some advantage for the forteiture of their estates. 
It answered this end very well, that sir C. Coote, immediately after his inhuman 
executions and promiscitous murders of people in Wicklow, was made governor of 
Dublin, at the very time of sending out the summons to the lords of the pale .' ! /" — 
Carte, 1.258. 

+ " The lords and gentry of the pale, vmable to resist so vast a body, that were 
entirely masters of the field, kept themselves quiet in their own houses, to which 



284 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^. 

might well hesitate to trust themselves in the power ol' men, whom they 
knew to be their inveterate enemies, anil w itliheld by no ties of honour, 
honesty, justice or humanity, as appeared in all their proceedings. 

But to remove all doubts of their views, and to deter those gentle- 
men from appearing on the 8th, the lords justices sent out a butcher- 
ing party on the Gtli or 7th of Santry,* a small village in the ncigh- 

—•••»©©©«<•— 

they had been ordered by the lords justices to retire ; not thinking it prudent by ;; 
weak and fruitless oi)i)Osition, and acts of hostility, to provoke an enemy Ihut eould 
destroy them in a moment, and take ample vengeance on their persons as well as 
estates, since they were on pain of death forbid a retreat in Dublin. In this eoniii- 
tion they remained, when tho lords justices on Dec. a. Kill, directed their letters to 
divers of the nobility who were nearest to them (most of the English pale) acquaint- 
ing them that they "had immediate occasion to confer with them, concerning tlu^ 
present estate of the kingdom, and the safety thereof in those times of danger, and 
requiring them to be at Dublin for that end, on the eighth day of the same month. 

"This summons alarmed several of those noblemen, who, lying most exposed to 
the enemy, could not hinder the rebels' entrance into their houses, or the paying of 
them contributions, and bad thereby been guilty of a correspondence which in the 
eye of the law was criminal (though miavoidable) and exposed theui to the penal- 
ties of high treason, if they were to be judged with rigour. The reason assigned 
for convening them at that time ajipeared very suspicious, because of the jealousy 
wliich the justices had always expressed of them ; and there was no reason to 
imagine, that their jealousies would be less, when their fears and danger were 
greater, or that they were now ready to talic their advice. When they had rejecteil 
it before, though given in concurrence with others of nnexeeptionable characters, 
and warranted by the authority of parliament. It appeared very strange and unac- 
countable, that those very jjcrsons, who had about a fortnight before thought the 
abode of these lords in Dublin dangerous and incompatible with the safety of the 
state, and in conse(iuencc thereof had banished them from tiience, should now, by a 
sudden turn of sentiments and conduct, invite them thither to be consulted with for 
the safety of that state. Hence it ivas easily iviagincd, tliat the summons ~,iuis onhi 
an artifice to dvaiv those noblemen to Dublin, and ivlieii theii were there to seize 
on their persons, confine tliem in an irk-some prison, and perluifis prosecnic them 
at law with a severiti/, wliich might end in the forfeiture of their estates, the 
ruin of t/teir families, and the taking away nft/ieir lives by an igno7ninious execu-- 
tion. These apprehensions were much heightened by the ill opinion which they liail 
entertained of the lords justices, who (they llrmly believed) hated their persons as 
well as religion ; and had designs upon their estates ; which, having power in their 
hands to do what they pleased, and being restrained by no scruple about the means 
of doing it, they might very easily execute. 'J'hus the fears and jealousies of these 
noblemen, upon occasion of this summons, drove them into such extremities, as 
despair of mercy is wont to produce in those who have transgressed the strict 
bounds of dutv, and know their lives and estates without it to be forfeited to the 
rigour of law." — Caute, I. 'Zl'3. 

* " Tuesday, Dec. 7. A party of foot being sent out into the neighbourhood of 
Dublin, in quest of some robbers that had phnidered a house at Buskin, came to the 
village of Santry, and murdered some iiinoceut husbandmen, f whose heads thi y 
broxight into the city in ti'inniph, and amoiigwhich were one or two I'rotestants ! ! ! ) 
under pretence that they had harboured and relieved the rebels, who had made im-oads 
and committed dejiredations in those parts. Hard was the case of the country peo- 
ple at this time, when, imt being able to hinder parties of robbers and rebels 
breaking info t/ieir houses, and taking refreshments there, this should be deemed 
a treasonable act, and sujfieient to authoi ise a viassacre. This following so soon 
after the executions, which sir Charles Coote, (who in revenge of his own losses, {ind 
the barbarities of the Ulster Irish, certainly carried matters to such c.vtremities </;.■ 
nobody can excuse,) had ordered in the county of Wicklow ; among which, when 
a soldier was carrying about a pooi- babe on the end of his pike, he was charged 
with saying, that lie liked such frolics, made it presently be imagined, that it was 
det?rnuned to proceed against all svispcctcd persona in the tame undietinguishing 



CHAPTER XXV. 285 

bourhood of Dublin, where they murdered some innocent husbandmen, 
and by way of triumph for this exploit, paraded the heads on pilies 
through the streets of Dublin. These unfortunate victims were, I 
repeat, charged with having harboured rebels, whom they could not 
prevent from access to their houses. 

The chief of the lords and gentry very wisely declined trusting 
themselves with such men on their bare word, and only three of them 
went. The remainder on the 10th transmitted a letter to the lords 
justices, stating their reasons for non-attendance — their apprehensions 
of the consequences — the threats held out against them — the murdera 
at Santry, &c. 

The justices on the 14th again sent them a message requiring them 
to meet them on the 17th, giving them further assurances of safety— 
but, with the same sinister views as in the former instance, they issued 
an order on the very same day, (the 14th) to a body of troops under 
Coote to proceed to Clontarfe, a small village a few miles from Dublin, 
to " burn and spoil the rebels' goods" — and to seize " such of the boats 
and vessels now lying there as they can on the sudden," and " to burn, 
spoil, sink, and make unserviceable the rest.'''' — Borlace, 42. Now 
there were no rebels, nor rebels' goods there. 

A robbery, it is true, had been committed by some lawless people 
on a bark from England, which Carte on good grounds supposes to 
have been " deserted, or wrecked ; in which case people that live on 
the sea coasts, influenced by a common, but barbarous notion, are apt 
to deem and treat the goods on board as lawful plunder." — Carte, I. 
246. Most assuredly this could not warrant the military execution 
which took place. 

The order for this incursion, issued at the same time as the invita- 
tion, which promised security, proved, beyond the possibility of doubt, 
that the nobility and gentry could place no dependence on the promises 
of the lords justices — who, in the opinion of Carte, did not wish them 
to come in, their object being to gain a pretence for declaring war 
against them. 

The party thus sent out to Clontarfe committed great devastation ; 
and, among the rest, they destroyed property to the amount of 4000/. 
belonging to Mr. King,* one of the very gentlemen specially invited 
under promise of security to Dublin, on the 17th. t That this was done to 

way of cruelty ; and it served either for an occasion or pretence,t ! ! ! ! to some 
Roman Catholic gentlemen of the county of Dublin, (among which were Luke Net- 
terville, second son of the lord viscount Netterville, George Blackney of Rickenhore, 
and George, King of Clontarfe,) to assemble together at Swords, six miles from 
Dublin, and put themselves with their followers in a posture of defence." — Idem, 244. 

* " Coote went with a party of soldiers, and entirely neglecting Kilbarrock and 
Raheny, fell upon Clontarfe, which belonged to Mr. King, (who was all this while 
absent from thence at Swords,) and burnt his tenants' houses and i^oods, not sparing 
even his mansion house, under pretence that some of the goods taken by robbery 
out of the bark, had been carried thither in his absence,' and found there before it 
was set on fire." — Carte, I. 246. 

■)■ " The gentlemen of the pale, banished Dublin by three successive proclamations, 
and on pain of death ordered to repair to their oion houses, unable to make resis- 
tance, and seeing not any, even the least, prospect of relief or succour, opened their 

4: " A pretence 1" was zny pretence necessary aftci- such atrocious [irooeediogs ? 

36 



386 VlNDICIJa HIBBKNIC.E. 

provoke the inhabitants of the pale — to prevent their obeying the sum-^ 
nions — to induce thein to stand on their defence — and to aiford a pre- 
tence for declaring them in a state of insurrection, will be admitted 
without hesitation by every honourable man — especially when it is 
borne in mind — as, to form a correct opinion of the course of affairs, 
it must be constantly — that the idea of a complete extirpation of the 
Irish was steadily cherished throughout the whole contest by the ruling 
party, and must have been the operating cause which led them first to 
produce the insurrection, and then by every means in their power, not 
only to prevent its suppression, but to foment and spread it universally 
over the island. Bearing this idea in view, their conduct throughout ap- 
pears perfectly consistent and uniform — and discovers as much clear- 
ness of head as obliquity and desperate wickedness of heart. On any 
other ground their proceedings are a tissue of gross absurdity and in- 
consistency. 

This course of proceeding produced the effect intended — in the 
words of Carte — " Their violent measures and threats of extirpation, 
terrifying and making the nobility and gentry of Engish race des- 
perate, hurried them, in spite of their animosity against the old Irish, 
into an insurrection." 

IV. Adjournment of Parliament. 

Charles I. involved in the most serious difficulties and embarrass- 
ments by his wicked attempt to force the English liturgy on the Scotch, 
and by the decisive attitude maintained by the English parliament, 
which refused to grant supplies adequate to the emergency of his situa- 
tion, was ardently desirous to conciliate the Irish, and therefore intended 
to accord those graces which, as already stated, he had most perfidi- 
ously withheld, after having received the full value of them. He 
therefore sent express orders to the lords justices to have them regu- 
larly ratified by act of parliament, in August, 1641. The messengers 
had arrived at the port of embarkation in England, and were daily ex- 
pected in Dublin. The nation, harassed by the insatiable rapacity of 
those hosts of pimps, spies, and informers, whose iniquitous proceed- 
ings are detailed in Chapter XV. and by a variety of other oppressions 
and grievances, was in the most anxious expectation of this all-im- 
portant arrangement being at length finally completed. Those graces 
were admirably calculated to allay the heart-burnings which the pro- 
consular tyranny of Strafibrd had excited, and completely tranquillize 
the public mind. But this would have wholly defeated the sinister 
views of the lords justices ; and therefore they wickedly adjourned the 
parliament at this critical jimcture, in order to frustrate the purposes of 
the king ; disappoint the ardent and reasonable wishes of the nation ; 

defenceless habitations to the enemy ; which gave the lords justices occasion to com- 
plain, that " the rebels were harboured and lodged in the gentlemen's houses of that 
county, as fully as if they were good subjects." This correspondence, however 
necessitated it was at first, inrolving them in the guilt of rebellion, according to the 
rigour of the law, which they had no reason to think would be relaxed on account of 
their unhappy situation, by any favour or tenderness they might hope from the then 
government, made the gentlemen in general and the high sheriff in particular, to 
join the rebels, and put the fate of their persons andfurtunes nponthc issue of the 
rebellion^ — Idem, 238, 



CHAPTER XXV. 287 

tBXclte disafTection ; nnd prepare for the insurrection wliicli tliey then 
must have calculated to pro'Juce.* 

Nothing could he conceived more ill-timed or more provoking- to the 
Irish, than this adjournment. It daslied the cup from their lips, at the 
moment when they had every reason to expect a fruition of its con- 
tents — and created an universal disquietude and dissatisfaction through- 
out the nation. They had hovi'ever no remedy. They were obliged 
to submit. 

The adjournment was till the 9lh of November. The nation had 
hoped when that day should arrive, that parliament would devise some 
effectual means for repressing the dislurhances in the north, and for 
establishing peace and tranquillity in the kingdom, 'i'his effect would 
have taken place, had they been allowed a regular session. But this 
would have been death to the projects of the government, and there- 
fore on the 3d of November they prorogued the parliament, till the 
24th of that month, under the very frivolous pretence, that, during the 
continuance of the rebellion, it would be dangerous to convene par- 
liament ;t whereas, the existence of a rebellion was the strongest pos- 
sible reason for their sitting, and \vould have been sufficient reason to 
summon an extra session, even earlier than the period fixed by adjourn- 
ment.J 

— ..rt* ©«><«•— 

* " After certain knowledge that the said committees: were by the water-side in 
England, with sundry im(>ortant and beneficial bill.s, and other graces, to be past, as 
acts in that parliament, of purpose to prevent the same, the said taction, by the 
practice of the said lords justices and aome of tlie said privy counce'l mtd their 
adherents, ill tumiiUuoiis and disorderly tnnnner on the seventh ^hiy of ./liigusi, 
JG41, and on severall days before, cry ed fur an adjotnmement of tlie limtse, and 
beinge overvoted by the voices of the more moderate parte, the said lords justices 
and their adherents told severall honourable peers, that if they did not adjourn th« 
lords house on that da}', being Saturday, that they v/ould themselves prorogue or 
adjourne the parliament on the next Monday following; by means whereof, and of 
great mtmbers of proxies (f noblemen, not estuted, noratanylyme resident in 
this king-dome, (which is destructive to the libertye and freedom of parliaments here) 
the lords house was on the said seventh day of August adjourned, and the house 
of commons by occasion thereof, and of the faction aforesaid, adjourned soone after, 
by which meanes those bills and graces, according to your majcslie's intention, and 
the greate expectation, and longing desires of your people, could not then pass as 
acts of parliament." — Caute, III. 139. 

-j- " The reasons which they alleged for this opinion were, that it would highly 
trench upon the gravity and wisdom of the board to alter a resolution taken there, 
and made known to the whole kingdom by proclamation ; and that it v;ould be of 
dangerous consequence to bring a number of people to the city in such dangerous 
times; that several of the Protestant members for Ulster were dispersed, or so shut 
up or employed, that tliey could not repair to the present meeting ; and that there- 
fore the Roman Catholics, (who peradventure might bring ill atlections with them,) 
would be superior in number and voices, and so carry all things according to their own 
humour. These reasons, founded cliiefly upon mere jealousies and fears, for which 
there did not seem to be any just grounds, when so many Roman Catholic members 
were likewise absent, and there was no danger to be apprehended from such as were 
present, in a city whence all strangers were banished by proclamation, and in which 
there was now a garrison of 4 or .5000 men, did not satisfy the others ; hut upon a 
vote the majority declared themselves for sticking to the prorogation." — ('autj', 
I. 223. 

i " There never could be stronger nnd more pressing reasons for th'^ sitting of a 
parliament than there were at this time. For fo s:ay notliing of the rebellion, the 



288 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

The lawyers belonging to parliament were of opinion, that unless it 
was allowed to meet on the day fixed by the adjournment, it would be 
virtually dissolved. The judges were consulted, who being doubtful 
on the subject, the justices consented to allow parliament to meet for 
one day, to prevent a dissolution. 

Parliament accordingly met; however, but few members attended, as 
the notification of meeting had not gone into Munster or Connaught 
where the proclamation for the prorogation had been circulated. Of 
course scarcely any of the members for those two provinces attended. 
A protestation and declaration were drawn up by both houses against 
the rebels, which, and some other business of no importance, not bq- 
ing completed in one day, the lords justices with great difficulty were 
prevailed on to allow them to sit the next day. The earl of Ormonde, 
the lord Dillon of Costello, and other Protestant gentlemen, were 
anxious to have the prorogation annulled, and the session continued — 
but all their representations were in vain. The session was closed in 
two days, to the regret of every honest man in the nation, who all 
united in execrating the vile policy which led to such a baneful mea- 
sure.* 

In consequence of instructions from the English parliament, the lords 
justices offered a pardon to the insurgents on the 30th of October — but 
couched in such terras that it was meant not to take effect. To destroy 
all chance of its favourable operation, there were but forty copies print- 
ed. It was merely thrown out as a blind to deceive the world, and cast 
an odium on the insurgents for rejecting the lenity of the government. 
It was confined to four counties, in two of which there had been no 
rebels ; it excluded freeholders alio get her J ! and extended to those non- 
freeholders alone, who, having committed any depredation, should 
within ten days restore the property, which, in almost every case, must 
necessarily have been utterly impracticable.! 

graces lately granted by the king, and so much desired by the nation, which arrived 
in Ireland too late to be passed in the last session, were to be enacted in this, and 
were expected with great impatience by the merchants, who were to be eased in the 
rates of customs, and licences of exportation ; by the gentlemen, for the security of 
their estates, against the avarice and rapine of needy ministers and projectors, by 
which they had been plagued and harassed for forty years past ; and indeed by all 
sorts of men throughout the jiation, who were in one respect or other to find relief, 
convenience, and advantage thereby. The late clamours about grievances had 
quickened every body's sense of them ; they were uneasy every moment till they 
were redressed ; and to disappoint them in the height of their eager expectations, 
was enough to make them furious and desperate, and could not fail of producing 
more mischiefs and real dangers than their fears could suggest of imaginary ones to 
arise from any other cause." — Idem, 230. 

* " There was something so very weak or wicked in not permitting the parliament 
to sit at this critical juncture, that *** the greatest part of the miseries ivluch Ire- 
land underivent in this rebellion -were in a good measure occasioned by the ob- 
stinacy or the evil intenlions of those Tvho -were then at the helm." — Wauner, 126. 

-j' " In another instance, the conduct of these wretched governors was still more 
suspicious. The parliament of England had recommended the offer of a general par- 
don to such rebels as should submit within a certain time, to be limited by the lords 
justices. JVo proclamation 7vas published, no pardon offered, in consequence of 



CHAPTER XXV. 289 

In a letter to the lord lieutenant, the lords justices made the follow- 
ing statement of their views in these limitations. 

" The proclamation is so framed that their laying down of arms shall not wipe away 
all their former offences ; in regard, we humbly conceive, it were a dangerous exam- 
ple, if after their robbing and spoiling of so many of his majesty's faithful subjects, 
the whole kingdon over, of their goods and estates, to the value of a million at least, 
(no age having produced in this kingdom so much mischief and so great calamity in 
so short a time) they should, for laying down arms, have those their grievous and 
unexampled tyrannies over those of the English nation remitted." — Cahte, I. 261. 

VI. Rejection of the submissions of the insurgents. 

It has always been regarded as sound policy, in cases of civil war, 
to break the strength of the rebellious by receiving those to mercy who 
submitted early, add whose conduct had not been marked by an extraor- 
dinary atrocity. Many formidable conspiracies, which threatened cer- 
tain destruction to states, have been suddenly dissolved by these means, 
which are powerfully recommended equally by motives of policy and 
humanity. Such a measure, adopted at an early stage, would have 
ended the insurrection in a few weeks. The insurgents would have 
rejoiced to have had an opportunity to lay down their arms, and submit 
to the government.* They were eager to come in under the proclama- 
tion of pardon above stated.! But this would have defeated the 

— ..feee^"— 

these instruction!!. To palliate this omission, they pleaded the inefTicacy of their 
former proclamations : the first of which only called on the king's subjects to aban- 
don the rebels, without any positive assurance of mercy : the other offered a pardon, 
not to the rebels of Ulster, where the insurrection chiefly raged, but to those of Long- 
ford and Louth, Meath, and Westmeath. In the two last counties no body of rebels 
had appeared. And if any outrages or insurrections were to be suppressed, the lords 
justices contrived to defeat the effect of their pardon, by exceptions and condi- 
tions. All freeholders of these four counties; all who had shed blood in any action; 
all who were in prison for spoil or robbery, were expressly excluded from mercy. To 
others, it was tendered on condition of their submitting luithin ten days after the 
proclamation, and restoring all the property they had seized, which had quickly 
been dispersed through various hands. Such a proclaniatiouivas evidently absurd 
and insidious. A pardon offered in the name of the English parliament, must have 
had greater influence than any act of an Irish ministry, despised and suspected by 
the body of the nation. But the chief governors and their creatures were confident 
of support, and experienced iii the art of converting forfeitures to their oivn ad- 
vantage." — Lp.lani), III. 160. 

* " A cessation was recommended by Clanrickarde, as a means of giving them some 
leisure to reflect on their precipitate conduct; to recall them to their allegiance; 
and to prevent the desolation of the kingdom : but the chief governors were actuated 
by different motives. They severely condenmed the protection granted to Gall- 
■way : their orders were express and peremptory, that the earl should receive no 
MORE SUBMISSIONS : cvery commander of every garrison was ordered not to pre- 
sume to hold any correspondence with the Irish, or Papists : to give no protections ; 
but to prosecute all rebels and their harbourers -with fire and stuord^ — Leland, 
III. 198. 

•j- " They who had not engaged in actual hostilities, they who were only accused 
of harbouring, or paying contributions to the rebels, crowded to the earl of Ormond, 
and claimed the advantage of the royal proclamation. The lords justices, who 
not only favoured the designs of their friends in England, but expected to have their 
OTvn services rewarded by a large portio?i of forfeitures, resolved to discourage 
these pacific dispositions. Ormond was directed to make no distinction between 
noblemen and other rebels ; to receive those ivho should surrender, 07ily as prisoners 



290 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC.^. 

grand object of the lords justices, Avho issued orders to their officers 
every wlicre, to hold no intercourse or parley with the rebels — to accept 
no submission — and to receive none of the insurgents who oU'ered to 
surrender theuiselvos on any other terms tlian as prisoners of war. 
'J'hey were indiscriminately thrown into prison — indicted and had 
their estates confiscated. Even those who tied from the rebels — who 
had suffered by their depredations — wlio had never been engaged in 
any action with them — when they attempted to take refuge in Dublin, 
or in any other garrison town, were thrown into prison and shared the 
same fate as the guilty,* 

VII. 

I shall now slightly touch on other means used by the lords justices 
and their friends in England and Ireland, to spread the insurrection. 
By threats couslantl)' held out, of a general confiscation of estates 
through the kingdom, of which the act referred to page 270, was the 
entering wedge, th.ey placed before the estated part of the community 
the alternative of resistance or ruin. And in order to debar them of all 
hope of escape, the English parliament passetl an act annulling all 
grants of lands belonging to the rebels, M'ifhout the consent of both 
houses, t and another revoking all pardons granted, or to be granted 

—•« 9 ©»<«• — 

vf -war ; and to contrive that tlicy should be seized by the soldiers, without admit- 
ting them to his presence. They who were sent, in custody, to Dublin, thovgh men 
of respectable chcii'ucters and families, engaged in no actionivith the rebels, some, 
S7ifferers by tlieir rapine, averse to their proceedings, knoxun protectors of the 
English, were all indiscriminately denied access to the justices ; closely imprisoned ; 
and threatened with the utmost severity of the law." — Lt.land, III. 188. 

"The lords Nettcrvillc and Slanc, and many of the principal gentry in that dis- 
trict, had made an oiler, if they might be accepted, of the like submissions; and this 
practice there was becoming so general tha*. the ministry tI\ought it time to put a stop 
to it. It appears by their letter to the lord lieutenant at that time, that they thought 
themselves much wiser than other ministers had been, by too easily receiving sub- 
missions, and granting pardon to rebels ; and therefore they should take another 
course. Some of those gentlemen of the Pale had been indicted of high treason, 
for having been seen to converse -vith some of the rebels, whilst the rebels were 
masters of their country ; and the bills had been found by the grand juries; who 
were so extremely alert, as to find several hundreds, as it has been already said, in 
two days. The ministers resolved therefore to have these tried in a legal course ; in 
order to show the rest that their submission would entitle them to no favour." — 
Wahxkk, 175. 

* ".4// the gentlemen that surrendered themselves, -were, tviihout being admiltcd 
to the presence of the jiistices, committed prisoners to the castle ; preparations were 
made for their trial ; and it was publickly said that they should be prosecuted with 
the utmost severity. But as they had never appeared in the field, nor been engaged 
in any warlike action, proper facts were wanting to support a charge against them. 
To supply this defect, the lords justices had recourse to the rack, though against the 
law, in order to extort such confessions as these miscreants- had a mind to put into 
the monttis of those nntiappy men ivlio were to midergo itT — Warxkr, 170. 

+ " All grants made or to be made by the crown of any goods or lands of rebels, 
since Oct. 23, IGil, were declared null and void ; and all pardons which should be 
granted after the said day to any of the rebels before attainder, (without the assent of 
l)oth houses) to be adjudged void and of none effect." — Catitb, I. 302. 

" This act, which had the royal assent on March 19; the treatment which the 
gentlemen that surrendered themselves had met with from the lords justices, and 
the rejecting of all offers of submission, put an end to all thoughts of that nature, 



CHAPTER XXV, 39 1 

from and after tFie 23d of October 1041, without the same consent, by 
whicli they not only sliut the door against those actually in arms — but 
forced those who had been pardoned, to take up arms once more. But 
these measures, violent as they were, did not satisfy them. They 
operated principally on the higher orders of society — and it was de- 
termined to appeal to the religious feelings and to the fears of the mas& 
of the nation, by making the contest a religious war. The Irish par- 
liament, reduced to a mere skeleton, by the expulsion of the Roman 
Catholics, drew up a declaration to the king and parliament of England, 
praying not merely for the rigorous enforcement of the old laws against 
the recusants — but for the transmission into Ireland, to be passed thercr 
of all the laws in force in England against them — by one of which the 
celebration of mass was rendered felony — and by another the atten- 
dance at it, was subject to enormous penalties and imprisonment.* 
The English parliament acted in unison — and passed various resolves, 
breathing a most infuriate spirit of persecution, "worthy of a chosen band 
of Spanish inquisitors.t The Irish Roman Catholics were threatened 
with a crusade, in which, after the example of the followers of Maho- 
met, who went armed with the scymiter and koran, the soldiers were 
to be the evangelists, and to carry the bible in one hand, and the sword 

—•»►►©©*«<— 

anil convinced all the gentlemen of English race, who had engaged in the insurrec- 
tion, that there was no longer room to hope for pardon, nor any means of safety left 
them but in the sword. It was not an age of such abstracted principles of loyalty, a» 
might engage men to sacrifice themselves, their families and estates, rather than 
swerve from the strict rules of their duty. The lords of the pale, out of a strong 
jealousy of the designs which the state had formed against them, and out of a dread 
of such a treatment, as sir J. Head, (who had a like invitation to confer with them,) 
afterwards found from the lords justices, had put themselves into arms, and stood 
upon their guard." — Ibid, 

* " A declaration was drawn up, and agreed to by both houses, in an address io 
the king and parliament of England, praying that a present course might be taken 
for executiiig the penal laws in force in Ireland against all the Papists in that 
kingdom, and particularly in the city of Dublin ; that bills might be transmitted into 
England in order to make all the laws there against the Popish clergy a7id their 
relievers to be enacted for Ireland: and that it might not be in the power of any 
governor of that kingdom, to suspend, inhibit, or connive at, the exemption from 
such law^, or any of them. If it was the design of the council that the rebellion 
should be thought a war of religion, and a total extirpation of all Catholics, and 
»f popery, was the scheme proposed, then nothing was more to the purpose than this 
declaration. But it was a measure, of which all wise and good men dreaded the con- 
sequence." — Warxer, 212. 

f " The English parliament echoed these sentiments. The bills were prepared 
for transmission, and the utmost vengeance denounced against Popery ; as if their 
sole purpose were to exasperate the instirgents to the utmost, or as if they had been 
already completely reduced." — Lklaxd, III. 197. 

In a remonstrance to the king, the Enghsh parUament prayed that he " would be 
graciously pleased, for the better discovery and speedier conviction of recusants, that 
an oath may be established by act of parliament, to be administered in such manner 
as by both houses shall be agreed on ; wherein they shall abjure and renounce the 
pop)e's supremacy, the doctrine of trans ubsta?itiation, pnirgatory, worshipping of 
the consecrated host, crucifixes, and images ; and the refusing the said oath, being 
tendered in such manner as shall be appointed by act of parliament, shall be a suf- 
ficient conviction in law, of recusancy. And that your majesty, will be graciously 
pleased to give your royal assent to a bill for the education of the children of Papists 
by Protestants in the Protestant religion." — Paul. Hist. xii. 149. 



293 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

in the other.* It was moreover confidently asserted, at a public en- 
tertainment, by one of the lords justices, that in twelve months there 
should not be a Roman Catholic left in Ireland. In a word, never was 
more assiduity and address employed to accomplish any purpose than 
were put into activity on this occasion, and, had the object been laudable, 
the parties would be entitled to immortal honour — but, employed for 
such a nefarious object, they have a fair claim to eternal execration.t 

* " It was confidently averred that sir John Clotworthy, who well knew the de- 
signs of the faction that governed in the house of commons of England, had declared 
there in a speech, " that the converslun of the Papists in Ireland ivas only to be 
ejected by the Bible in oTie hand and the sword in the other ,-" and Mr. Pym gave 
out that they xvould not leave a priest in Ireland. To the like effect sir William 
Parsons, out of a strange weakness, or a detestable policy, positively asserted before 
many witnesses, at a public entertainment in Dublin, that xvithin a twelvemonth no 
Catholic should be seen in Ireland." — Carte, I. 235. 

■]-" I have seen some minutes of the council-board, which aver, that sir Charles 
Coote said, that when sir Luke Fitzgerald misdemean'd himself before the board, 
by uncivil words towards a member of the board, he let him have the line, and would 
not reprehend him, in hope he would go into rebellion ; for he saw he would do so, 
and that the more that were in rebellion, it was the better." — Nalson, II. 538. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 293 



CHAPTER XXVL 

Conjisca/ion, Perjury, Subornation of witnesses. Jlbove one thousand 
bills of indictment found in two days in Dublin. Eleven hundred 
persons indicted at once in Cork and Waterford. 

" Some salve for perjury : 
Some tricks — some quillets — hoxu to cheat the devil.'" — Shakspeahe. 

After the Irish administration had succeeded in spreading the in- 
surrection throughout the island, it remains to sliow what measures 
they adopted to derive from it the advantages which they had proposed 
to themselves, and whicli led them to pursue the nefarious course I have 
stated. 

The confiscation of estates, and their own personal aggrandizement, 
were the objects in view. This is the language of all the writers of the 
history of those times. Carte says : 

" The governors were ttie likeliest persons in it to get by the troubles of the 
ki7igdo7n, and to raise their ow7i fortunes by tlie ruin of ttiose of private gentle- 
men."— Caute, I. 262. 

Warner comes more directly to the point, and exposes their villany 
in all its deformity to the reprobation of the world, from their own cor- 
respondence : 

"The lords justices, in a private fetter of their own to tlie speaker, excfusive of 
tfie rest of the councif, besought tfie commons to assist them with " a grant of 
some competent proportion of the rebets' lands." Here the reader xvill find the 
key that unlocks ttie whole secret of ttieir iniquitous practices ; and here we find 
the motives to the orders they gave, for receiving no submissions ; for issuing no 
proclamations of pardon at first, as the parliament had suggested ; and, in short, for 
all their backwardness in putting an end to the rebellion, for which several oppor- 
tunities offered, and consequently for their sa<-rifcing tlie peace and happiness of 
their country ; and the lives of thozisands of their felloxu subjects." — Warnek, 1 99. 

To accomplish their purposes they required and readily found per- 
jured juries and perjured witnesses ; and so profligate were they, that 
money was lavished to hire the latter. And so barefacedly and profli- 
gately Was this trade of corruption carried on, — so totally lost were the 
privy council to all sense of principle and decency, — and so well was 
their character established on this point, that one of the agents employed 
in the business of subornation, actually applied to them, in their public 
capacity, for the wages of his iniquity. 

" Indictments had been found against them" [lord Dunsany, sir John Netterville,, 
and other noblemen and gentlemen of high standing] " and above a thousand 
OTUEWS, by a grand juiy, ix the space of two days ! ! There was certainly too 
much hurry in the finding of these indictments, (of which above three thousand 
were upon record) to allow time for the examination of eacti particular case, and 
they were too generally J'omid on very sligtu evidence. The Roman Catholics 
complained that there were strange practices used witJi ttie jurors, menaces to some, 
promises of rewards, and parts of the FoiuEiThD estatf-s made to others; and 
though great numbers of the indicted persons might be really guilty, there was too 

37 



294 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

'much 'ffccasion given to suspect the evidence. I am the more inclined to suspect therfe 
~was a good deal of corruption and iniquity in the methods of gaining these indict' 
ments, because I find a very remarkable memorandum made by the marquis of 
OrmoVid, in his own writing, of a passage in the council, on April 23, 1643. There 
Svas then a letter read at the board, from a person who claimed a great merit to 
■himself, in getting some hundreds of gentleinen indicted, and the rather for that he 
had laid out sums of money to procure witnesses to give evidence to a jury, for the 
finding those indictments. This was an intimate friend of sir William Parsons, 
and might very well know that such methods would be approved by liim." — CabtD/ 
I. 423. 

I trust the reader will aVbU weigh, and ponder on, the naked detail Cbti- 
tained in the preceding paragraph, which exhibits a scene of atrocity 
iinparalleied in the history of fraud, forgery, perjury, and robbery,- 
What a stupendous, what a sickening fact is the finding of one thousand 
bills of indictment intivo days ! And, be it observed, these bills Were 
principally against the wealthy classes, the " noblemen, gentlertien, and 
freeholders." — Carte, I. 454. These were the men whom it was 
worth while to indict, men whose estates would recompense the trouble, 
pay for the subornation of hired witnesses, and sate the avarice of the 
prime movers of the business. 

" Above one thousand bills of indictment in two days ! ! !" Suppose 
the jury sat twelve hours in each day, from six in the morning till six 
in the evening, without obeying any of the calls of hunger, it was at 
the rate oi forty-two bills in an hour, or two every three minutes ! ! 
Well might Carle observe, that they did not " alloiv time for the ex- 
amination of each particidar case.'''' This is a most feeble and dis- 
graceful mode of stating the affair, which he ought to have stigmatized 
in terms of the strongest reprobation. He might have said, and ijvith 
perfect truth, that they did not " allow time to read the bills^ and little 
more than was necessary to sign them." They must have been hud- 
dled over en masse, barely reading the titles, marking them true billsj 
and annexing the names of the jurors. 

And these bills of indictnhent — (who can read the fact without shud- 
dering with horror ?) — decided on the lives and fortunes of the priiicipal 
of the " nobility, gentry, and freeholders" of Ireland, of whom, on 
these, and indictments equally just and honourable, " two thousand 
were prosecuted to outlawry by sir Philip Percival, clerk of the 
trown," — [/6iV/.] and their estates confiscated. 

Will it be deemed extravagant, to assert that the annals of the world 
Can produce no similar circumstance, — and that never was rampant 
and profiigate injustice and rapine and plunder so completely triumphant 
bver honour, honesty and justice? This was the time, when, in those 
halls, nicknamed courts of justice, " the benches," (to use tlie strong 
and energetic language of the duke of Ormonde, in his speech to the 
Irish parliament,) " were crowded or oppressed with the throng and 
rvicked weight of those who ought rather to have stood manacled at 
the bar.''^ — Borlace, App. 84. How deplorable the case of a noble 
nation, exposed to the '•'•tender mercies," of such profligate juries and 
such nefarious judges ! 

It may not be improper, indeed it appears indispensable, to consider 
what is the nature of a bill of indictment, what are the duties of a grand 
jury who are to decide on it, and what are its consequences. 

According to Jacob's Law Dictionary, " An indictment is an inquisition taken 
and made by twelve men at the least, who are thereunto sworn, whereby they find and 



CHAPTER XXVI. 295 

present that such a person, of such a place, in such a county, and of such a degree, 
hath committed such a treason, felony, trespass, or other offence, against the peace 
of the king, his crown, and dignity." — Jacob, III. 401. 

The accusation is delivered to the grand jury, who are sworn to 
determine on the probable guilt or innocence of the party accused, ac- 
cording to the evidence brought by the proper officer to support the 
charge. 

Could the jury, who thus found one thousand bills of indictment in 
two days, have heard the evidence? Certainly not. Did they not 
therefore violate their oaths ? Yes. What were they tlien ? Perjurers. 
Was not the blood of every man, whom their perjury led to the scaf- 
fold, on their heads ? Were they not virtually robbers of the estates 
of those who were plundered in consequence of those indictments ? 
Indubitably. 

Were not the judges under oath to administer justice correctly? 
When they received such bills, were they not likewise perjured? Was 
not the blood of the victims equally to be laid to their charge ? Most 
assuredly. 

In ordinary cases, the perjuries of grand juries, however flagitious, 
are of no great importance, but as respects their own guilt, provided 
the traverse juries be upright and independent. But here the traverse 
juries were equally wicked and corrupt with the grand juries. 

Of three thousand persons indicted, as above stated, by sir Philip 
Percival, there were two-thirds who did not appear, and were pro- 
secuted to outlawry in their absence.* Thus, for those two thousand 
men, there was no more use of a traverse jury than if no such body 
ever existed. 

Would that I had the tongue of a Demosthenes, or a Curran, or a 
Henry, or the pen of a Burke or a Dickinson, to spread this truth be- 
fore an astonished world, that, on this species of evidence, one foul, 
bloated mass of the most nefarious fraud and perjury, rests the thousand- 
times-told story of " the execrable Irish Rebellion.''^ 

I shall conclude this chapter with a statement of the wholesale pro- 
ceedings, whereby all the nobility and gentry of two entire counties 
were indicted to the amount of eleven hundred at one sweep, and their 
estates subsequently confiscated. How many hours the jury was en- 
gaged in the business is not stated — but it is presumable, as it was man- 
aged by the earl of Cork, one of the most rapacious and unprincipled 
men of the age, that the process was equally summary with those in 
Dublin. 

" I have, with the assistance of the earl of Barrymorc, the lord viscount of Kill- 
mallock, and my two sons, Dungarvan and Broghill, (by the advice of the lords 
justices and council of Ireland, who enabled me with commissions to that effect) 
lately held sessions in the several counties of Corke and Waterford, and even beyond 
the expectation of all men, have proceeded so far as by juries free of all exception, to 

• " Whatever difficulties there were in the case, the lords justices were equal to 
them all ; and carried on the prosecution with great vigour, causing indictments to 
be preferred not only against open and declared rebels, but also against others -who 
■were barely suspected ! ! and, as there was nobody to make defence ! ! ! ! nor any 
great delicacy used, either in the choice of the Jury, or as to the character and 
credit of the -witnesses ! ! ! and one tvitness sufficed, such indictments -were readilv 
found! ! .'"—Carte, I. 277. 



296 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

indict the lorJs viscounts Roch, Montgarret, Ikerrin, and Muskerry, and the barons of 
Dunboyne and Castellconnell, with the son and heir of the lords of Cahir, Theobald 
Purcell, baron of Loghmoe, Richard Butler, of Killcash, esq. brother to my very good 
lord the earl of Ormonde, with all other the baroiiets, kiiiffhts, esquires, gentlemen, 
freeholders, and popish priests, in number about eleven hundred, that either dwell, 
or have entered or done anij rebellious act in tliose two counties ! ! ! ! ! which indict- 
ments 1 make bold to send unto you to be presented unto the house, to the end they 
may be there considered of liy such members thereof as are learned in the laws ; that, 
if they be wanting in any formal point of the law, they may be reformed and rectified, 
and returned unto me, with such amendments as they shall think fit : and so (if the 
house please to direct) to have them all proceeded against to outlawry ; whereby his 
majesty may be intitled to their lands and possessions, which (I dare boldly affirm) 
were at the beginning of this insurrection not of so little yearly value as two hun- 
dred thousand pounds .' ! ! ! This course of proceedings against the lords and the 
rest was not by them suspected ; and I assure you doth much startle and terrify 
them ; for now they begin (though too late) to take notice, that they are in a good 
forwardness to be attainted, and all their estates confiscated, to the corruption of 
their blood, and extirpation of them and their families ! ! ! ! "And the height of 
their revenge is principally bent against the carl of Barrymore, myself, and my sons, 
which we all foresaw before we entered upon this work of works .'" — Oriiert, I. 8. 

The annual income of the estates of those persons indicted, it ap- 
pears was 200,000/. equal at the present value of money, to at least 
1,200,000 pounds, or nearly 6,000,000 of dollars ! Who can think of 
those horrible proceedings without abhorrence and detestation of the 
nefarious miscreants by whom they were perpetrated, and deep felt 
sympathy for the nations of such atrocious robbery ? Among the vic- 
tims were those noblemen and gentlemen who had waited on sir W. St. 
Leger to tender their services to preserve the peace of the country, and 
whom, for the purpose of paving the way to those confiscations, he 
treated so brutally, as may be seen page 274, 



CHAPTER XXVir. 297 



CHAPTER XXVTI. 

View of the spirit of the hostile parties in Ireland. 3furderous and 
never-enough-to-be-execrated orders of the lords justices, and of the 
long parliament. Illustrious contrast on the part of the Irish. 

" Foul deeds will rise, 
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes : 
And murder, though it have no tongue, will speak 
With most miraculous organ." — Shakspeake. 

Bkfore I enter on the investigation of the horrible and unparalleled 
cruelties alleged to have been perpetrated by the Irish in ihis civil war, 
I regard it as a duty to present a view of the spirit manifested in the 
orders given to the commanding generals on both sides, which will shed 
important light on this interesting subject; and add still further cor- 
roboration to the various proofs already adduced, of the unprecedented 
deceptions practised upon, and the erroneous impressions entertained 
by, the world at large, respecting Irish affairs. 

He must be a mere sciolist in history, who requires to be informed 
that the most rigorous military discipline has too frequently, in every 
age, been utterly inadequte fully to restrain the ferocious and sanguin- 
ary spirit of mercenary armies, which, accustomed to scenes of blood 
and desolation, are too prone to be steeled against the calls of humanity. 
It is well known, moreover, that civil wars, are almost always signal- 
ized by incomparably more ruthless barbarity than wars between hos- 
tile nations. Bat, if the wisest regulations to restrain military violence, 
be always found difficult, and too often impossible, to be carried into 
eflect, even in well-regulated armies, how frightful must be the result, 
when murder and desolation are not merely tolerated, but absolutely 
commanded ; when tlie rulers 

" Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war ;" 

when military outrage is excited, by orders to slaughter the unoffend- 
ing ; and when the capacity to resist the violence of one parly, is made 
a pretext for murder by the other ! ! ! ! 

It will astonish the reader to learn, that the tenants of the regions 
below do not differ more from the purest cherub or seraph that the mind 
of man can conceive, than the fiend-like spirit of the orders promul- 
gated by the lords justices, from those issued by the leaders o( the Irish. 
None of those destroyers of mankind, wlio riot in human misery, 

" Wade through seas of blood, 

And walk o'er mountains of slaughtered bodies;" — Lee. 

could exceed the lords justices, in the desolating inhumanity of their 
orders, which breathed nothing but an infuriate spirit of arson, devasta- 
tion, and slaughter. 

Their commanders were directed to " consume, destroy, and de- 
molish all the places where the rebels loere relieved or harboured ;"" to 



598 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

" kill, slay, and destroy all the rebels and their rellevers.^^ — Carte, 
III, 61. But this was not all, nor half. How can I proceed to relate 
the execrable tale ? It will hardly be believed. For the honour of hu- 
man nature, it were to be wished that it could be utterly blotted from 
the records of history : but this is impossible. There it remains, and 
there it will eternally remain, to tlie never-dying infamy of those mis- 
creant ruleis. The orders close with a direction " to kill and destroy 
ALL THE MEN able to bear arms^^ in the places where the rebels 
were " relieved and harboured ! J .' .'"* 

The murderous spirit of these orders for the destruction of the har- 
bourers of the insurgents, must excite the most unqualified horror and 
indignation in every man not utterly destitute of the feelings of hu- 
manity. It may be readily conceived, that defenceless individuals, 
scattered over an extensive country, cannot possibly prevent armed 
bodies of man from having access to their houses or plantations ; nor 
can the inhabitants of cities, towns, or villages, destitute of fortifica- 
tions or garrisons, eficctually oppose their entrance. The attempt would 
ensure destruction, and could only be dictated by absolute insanity ; 
and nothing but the most flagrant destitution of justice could ever in- 
duce commanders to punish the bare submission to overwhelming force 
and violence, with the rigour and severity due to the perpetration of 
the highest species of crimes. 

Suppose, for a moment, that a civil war raged in this country, which 
Gad forbid — suppose further, that an army of five thousand men were 
to possess themselves, by force, of the city of Philadelphia. What 
sentence would be pronounced on the commanders of the adverse 
armies, who, to punish submission to violence, which our citizens had 
not the means of preventing, should, after the expulsion of their ene- 
rnies, order an indiscriminate slaughter of all those capable of bearing 
arms ? Would they not deserve to expiate their guilt by the most 
cruel torments that human ingenuity could devise ? This was pre- 
cisely the spirit of the orders issued by the lords justices, who therefore 
merit to be ranked with the Neros, the Caligulas, the Doraitians, and 



* " Order of the lords Justices and council to the earl of Ormonde. 

By the lords justices and council, Wm. Pahsoxs, 

Jo. BOHLACK. 

" The rebels having assembled themselves in arms in hostile manner, with ban- 
ners displayed, in several places about this city of Dublin, intending and openly 
jppofessJng to starve this city and this state, and his majesty's forces here, that so the 
febels may the more easily possess themselves of the kingdom, deprive his majesty 
of his royal crown and sovereignty here, and root out, murder, and destroy, all the 
British and Protestants in the kingdom, 

" It is resolved. That it is fit that his lordship do endeavour with his majesty's forces 
to -tvound, Icill, slay, and destroy, by all the ways and means he may, all the said 
rebels, and their adherents and relievers ; and hvrn, spoil, -waste, consume, destroy, 
and demolish,[Jil^L THE ]'J..^CES, totvns, and houses, -w/iere tfie said rebels 
are, or liave hee^i, JiELIEVEl) and HARBOURED, and all the hay and corn 
there; and kill and desthot all thk mek there ixhabitinb able to beaii 
ARMS ! ! ! ! 

"Given at his majesty's castle of Dublin, 23d February, 1641-2. 
R. Dillon, F. Willoighbt, 

Tho. Rothf.rax, J. Temple, 

Ar. liorrrf, Robirt Mkrbbith." — Carte, JII. 61. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 399 

those other monsters, whose supreme delight was in the immolation of 
the human species. 

This chapter being devoted merely to a review of the spirit with 
which the orders for war were issued on both sides, I reserve for a 
subsequent one a detail of the barbarous fidelity with which these hor- 
lible orders were carried into effect. 

It must sicken every friend of mankind, to learn that the English 
parliament was actuated by the same nefarious isplrit of slaughter of the 
Irish. It issued an ordinance, agreed upon after due deliberation, that 
" tio quarter should be given to any Irishman or Papist born in Ire- 
land, taken in hoslility to the parliament, on sea, or in England^ or in 
Wales ;'''' and that, " they shoiddbe excepted out of all capitulations.''''* 
This horrible decree, worthy of a pandemonium of fallen angels, Luci- 
fer president, and Belzebub secretary, attaches an eternal blot on the 
escutcheons of theHambdeils, the Pymsj and the Essexes of that body, 
who, in their rancorous arid remorseless hatred of Ireland and Irishmen, 
lost sight of every principle of humanity and justice, and of all the 
laws of civilized warfare. 

The phraseology of this ordinatlce is Very ambigUbiis, probablj?' 
through design. It orders to be murdered, — fofj 
" Disguise it is we will," 

it is sheer, downright murder — it orders, I say; W be murdered " all 
Irishmen and Papists born in Ireland.'''' ThtJ sweeping command to 
tnurder " all Irishmen," rendered it Wholly lihnecessary to add, " all 
Papists born in Ireland," unless they wished the world to believe, that 
a *♦ Pdpist born in Ireland" was a species <3f being different from an 
•' Irishman." 

To cap the climax of this atrocibiis cruelty^ Siid tb g;Uard agaitist the 
goadings of 

" The tyrdnt Consciencci" 

—••■>»© ®9l<"—- 

*'*()t/oW^4, liS44. 

"An brtiirlance of the lords and commons assembled irt prtrli^dttierit, commanding 
thdl X\6 officer or soldier, either hy sea or land, shjltl give diiy qltdrtfet to an Irishman, 
or to any Papist born in Ireland, which shall be taken ill dmisdgahiSt the Parliament 
of England. 

"The lords and commons assembled in the parliament ofSrigkhd db declare, that 
no qnaiter shall be given to any Irishman, or to anrj Papist bof-n in Ireland .' ! ! 
which shall be taken in hostility against the parliarhfc'nt, €ithgrlipdii the sea, or within 
this kingdom, or dominion of Wales ! I ! and therefore do dfder ahd brdain, that the 
lord geiieral, lord admiral, and all other officers and commanders, both by sea and 
land, shall except all Irishmen, and all Papists boni in Ireland, put of all capitu- 
lations, agreements, and compositions hereafter to be madfe with the en^my ! ! ! and 
shall, upon the taking of everij such Irishman or Papist born in treiuHd as %{oi:e- 
said, forlhwith ()nt evert/ such person to deaf h / .' 

"And it is further drdered and ordained; that the lord geHefdl, Io?d adihiral, and the 
committees of the several counties, do give speedy notice hereof, to all subordinate 
officers and commanders, by sea and land respectively ; who are hereby required to 
use their utmost care and circumspection, that this ordinance be duly executed; and 
lastly, the lords and commons do declare, that every officer and commander by sea of 
land, that shall be remiss or negligent in observing the tenor of this ordinancci 
shall be reputed a favourer of the bloody rebellion of Ireland ! ! ! and shall be 
liable to such condign punishment as the justice of both houses of parliament shall 
inflict upon him." — Rushworth, London, 1692, vol. V. page 783.* 

* In t differefit edition this ordinance is in pa^e 7??i 



300 VINDICLE HIBERNICE. 

whereby iheir commanders might be tempted to yield to the dictate of 

«' Mercy ! the brightest diadem of empire ! 

Mercy, that does distinguish men from brutes," 

they denounced " condign punishment" against all such as should be 
" remiss or negligent" in carrying the ordinance into execution. They 
were to be stigmatized with the foulest stain that the vocabulary of re- 
proach could at that day furnish ; that is, " to be reputed favourers of 
the bloody rebellion of Ireland," and to be punished accordingly. 

While such a barbarous and murderous decree imprints its inextin- 
guishable and sanguinary stain on tlie records of that parliament and 
party, it requires the most unblushing impudence and effronteiy to 
continue the outrageous abuse of the Irish, for the pretended murders 
and massacres of far more Protestants than were in the kingdom all to- 
gether. 

The reader may perhaps flatter himself with the fond hope that 
these orders were not, nor intended to be, carried into operation. Let 
him not 

" Lay this flattering unction to his soul." 

A few pages hence, he will find that the sanguinary rulers found san- 
guinary ruffians, to carry their sanguinary mandates into effect, in the 
true spirit of desolation in which they were conceived. 

Far different was the spirit by which the calumniated Irish were 
actuated. They denounced at an early period of the war, the strongest 
sentence of excommunication not merely against murderers, but against 
thieves, spoilers, robbers, and extorters ; as well as against all such as 
should favour, receive, or in any way assist them ;* and, lest this 
denunciation should prove ineflectual, they ordered their generals to 
punish offenders in the premises, under pain of interdiction. 

These orders are signed by three archbishops, four bishops, and 
twenty-one other dignitaries of the church, of various degrees. .They 
were enacted in a grand council, h-eld in Kilkenny, in May, 1642. 
What a glorious contrast ! how lionourable to Ireland ! between the 

— ..^K^@©4<M— 
* " Articles agreed upon, ordained and concluded, in the general congregation, 
held at Kilkenjiy, May, 1642. 
" We declare the [present] war, openly CathoUc, to be lawful and just ; in xvhich 
war, if some of the Catholics be foundto proceed out of some particular and unjust 
title, covetousyiess, crnelty, reveng'e, or hatred, or any such unlaivf id, private inten- 
tions, ive declare them therein grievously to siii, and therefore worthy to be pun- 
ished and restrained with ecclesiastical censures, if (advised thereof) they do not 
amend." — KusHM^oitTii, V. 516. 

" We will and declare all those that murder, dismember, or gj-ievozisly strike ; 
all thieves, unlawful spoilers, robbers of any goods, extorters ; together with all 
such as favour, receive, or anyways assist them, to be excommunicated, and so to 
remain until they completely amend and satisfy, no less than if they were namely 
proclaimed excommunicated. 

" We command all and every the generals, colonels, captains, and other officers 
of our Catholic army, to whom it appertaineth, that they severely punish all trans- 
gressors of our aforesaid command, touching murderers, maimers, strikers, thieves 
and robbers ; and if they fail therein, we command the parish priests, curates, or 
chaplains respectively, to declare them interdicted ; and that they shall be excom- 
municated, if they cause not due satisfaction to be made unto the commonwealth, 
and the party offended. And this the parish priests or chaplains shall observe, 
under pain of excommunication on sentence given ipso facto," — Idem, 520. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 301 

spirit they display, and that of the murderous ordinance of the long 
parliament, that " /20 quarter should be given to any Irishman!'''' or 
that of the lords justices, " to kill all the males able to bear arms, in- 
habiting in places cohere the rebels, (as they are falsely styled,) were 
harboured^' 0, much-abused country ! how little is the world ac- 
quainted with thy horrible sufferings ! how inadequately does it ap- 
preciate thy real character ! To what wretched historians has thy sad 
tale been confided ! Will the justice of heaven never avenge thy 
wrongs, nor vindicate thy rights ? Must centuries still roll on, and 
behold the countless blessings, which heaven has lavished, witli liberal 
hand, on one of the fairest portions of the globe, blighted and blasted 
by a wretched policy, worthy only of ruthless eastern despotism? 



38 



302 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Cessation of hostilities. Furious and fanatical uproar. Thirst of 
blood and plunder. .Arrant hypocrisy. 

" Lust and Rapine both divide the spoil ; 
And giant Murder now bestrides our streets 
Stalking in state, and wading deep in blood." — Southehn. 

The war had raged for a considerable time with variety of success. 
Whatever considerable advantage had been gained on one side, was 
countervailed by sotne success on the part of the adversary. The 
Irish, goaded as we have seen, into insurrection by a combination of 
religious bigotry, deadly national hatred, and devouring -thirst of con- 
fiscation and plunder, were ardently desirous of a lasting peace, or at 
least of a cessation of hostilities, as a measure preparatory to peace. 
The war was carried on against them with the most ruthless ferocity— 
Tlie. sword made no distinction between age or sex : and whatever 
rapine could not carry off, the fire consumed. 

To the king a cessation of hostilities was at least equally an object 
of ardent desire. The war, which fraud and falsehood and perjury 
had distorted into a horrible conspiracy for the destruction of the pro- 
testant religion in Ireland, was charged to his account and that of the 
queen, who were publicly denounced as its authors, with views to 
accomplish their purposes on England. He had therefore sent repeat- 
ed orders to the duke of Ormonde, to agree to a cessation of hostilities, 
on such terms as would have been perfectly satisfactory to the insur- 
gents, whose chief objects were, a limited toleration of the exercise of 
their religion, and security against the odious depredations on their 
estates, of which they and their ancestors had so long been the hapless 
victims. 

The policy of the duke of Ormonde throughout the whole of the 
civil war, is truly inexplicable, and wears a most sinister aspect. He 
steadily enjoyed the complete confidence of Charles I. to whom he 
always professed a most devoted attachment. Yet under a variety of 
the most absurd pretences, he procrastinated, and threw numberless 
obstacles in the way of, the cessation, notwithstanding the most im- 
perious orders of his royal master, to whom it was a vital object. It 
was not finally ratified, until it was almost too late to answer any- 
valuable purpose. 

The fanatical and sanguinary spirit displayed in both kingdoms, 
when the cessation was proclaimed, is absolutely incredible. That 
benign measure, which must have been hailed with rapture by every 
good man in both countries, was received with as much execration 
and abhorrence, as if it were pregnant with destruction to the civil 
and religious liberties of the professors of the protestant religion 
throughout the British dominions. In the opposition to it were united 
a great variety of parties of very different views and principles — some 
of them merely deluded and misguided — others abandoned and wick- 



CHAPTER XXVirr. 303 

ed.* Those wlio had indulged the piratical hopes of aggrandising 
themselves by the spoils to be acquired in the event of the expected 
confiscation of the estates of all the Roman Catholics in Ireland, 
and who had by every means in their power, extended the flames 
of civil war throughout the whole kingdom, were horror-struck at the 
idea of being deprived of their piey, when they flattered themselves 
they were on the point of the fruition of an object, which they so ar- 
dently pursued through fire and blood. They were clamorous against 
any measures whereby their hopes were likely to be disappointed. 
All the bigots and enthusiasts, who regarded the Roman Catholic reli- 
gion as idolatry, and an abomination in the eyes of heaven, were equal- 
ly indignant at the prospect of its being rescued from extirpation.! And 
the leaders of the parliament party in England, a most powerful, com- 
pact, and energetic body, to Avhom the Irish insurrection had been a 
powerful auxiliary, united in their detestation of, and opposition to, a 
cessation, though it did not compromit an iota of the honour, interest, 
or advantage of the ruling powers in either England or Ireland ; and 
took place at a time when the Irish had manifestly the advantage over 
their enemies, in point of military force and resources. It excited 
nevertheless, as much uproar, horror, and indignation, in both islands, 
as if it had totally overthrown the existing order of things, extirpated 
the protestant religion, and given a complete ascendency to the Roman 

— '"►9®*<«"— 

* " This cessation was no sooner known in England, but the two houses declared 
against it, with all the sharp glosses upon it to his majesty's dishonour that can be 
imagined ; persuading the people, " that the rebels were now brought to their last 
gasp, and reduced to so terrible a famine, that, like cannibals, they eat one atiother, 
and must have been destroyed immediately, and utterly rooted out, if, by the Po- 
pish counsels at court, the hin^- had not been persuaded to co7isent to this cessa- 
tion." — Clarestdon, II. 323. 

"Nov. 11, 1643. (As if massacres and assassinations had been light and venial 
crimes) another commission hath been granted under the same seal for a cessation 
of arins ivith the barbarous and bloody rebels in Jrelaiid, after the eflusion of so 
much innocent blood, and slaughter of above one hundred thousand Protestanta 
men, -women, and children !* by their merciless and bloody hands ; whereby a ces- 
sation of arms is accordingly concluded ; and those brutish rebels thereby embolden- 
ed to prepare themselves, not only for a total extirpation of the Protestants remain- 
ing there, but for a conquest also of this kingdom ! ! ! !" — RuswonxH, V. 341. 

f " The parliament's commissioners conclude, that whatsoever becomes of us, if 
we must perish, yet let us go to our graves with that comfort, that lue have not made 
peace -with the enemies of Christ ! I ! yea, even enemies of mankind declared and 
unreconciled ene^nies of our religion and nation !" — Borlace, 135. 

A declaratory and vituperative address to the king, by the general assembly of the 
kirk of Scotland, after a long enumeration of his crimes, wound up with the cessa- 
tion as capping the climax : " we make bold to warn your majesty freely, that the 
guilt -which cleaveth fast to your majesty, and to your throne, is such, as (whatso- 
ever flattering preachers, or unfaithful counsellors, may say to the contrary,) if not 
timely repented of, cannot but involve yourself and your posterity, under the wrath 
of the everliving God, for your being guilty of shedding of the blood of many thousands 
of your majesty's best subjects; — for permitting the mass, and other idolatry, both 
in your own family, and in your dominions: — *** for your complying too much, 
-with the Popish party many ways, and namely by concluding the cessation of arms 
in Ireland!" 

* Let it be observed that, according to sir W. Petty, there were at (he commence- 
ment of the war, only 1,200,000 souls in Ireland, and the Protestants of every description 
were only as two to eleven of the Roman Catholics. 



304 VINDICL^ HIBERNICiE. 

Catholics.* It aftords a most important addition to the various proofs 
already given, of the insatiable and ravenous thirst of the blood and 
estates of the Irish, by which the rulers of the two countries were at 
that time devoured. The English parliament passed strong and de- 
cisive resolutions,! and entered a most solemn protestation, against the 
cessation, distuiguisliod l)y the strongest marks of the sanguinary, 
fanatical, bigoted,, and intolerant spirit of an age, which is so loudly but 
so absurdly and unjustly extolled for its liberality and illumination. In 
this wretched performance, replete with sophistry and declamation, they 
have the hardihood, I had almost said the blasphemy, to assert, " in 
the face of high heaven," that " a cessation of arms'' ^ would, by a sus? 
pension of religious persecution, '■'■ provoke the icrath of a jealous 
Go r/ .'.'.'.' "I Well may we exclaim, " Why sleep the thunders of hea- 
ven !" when wicked men, perpetrating the worst of crimes, varnish 
them over with such miserable imposture, to delude and deceive man- 
kind ! Never did the mind of man conceive, or pen or tongue express, 
s, more abominable or execrable idea than is here unblushingly ad- 
vanced : for if there be any thhig peculiarly calculated " to provoke the 
wrath of a jealous God," it must be, not " a cessation" of the progress 
of slaughter and desolation, but the wanton waste and destruction of 
Ijian, made to his own image and likeness, 

* " The heads of that faction, who, by their measures, directions, and creatures, 
had used as much skill and industry to improve and co7ifi7iue the rebellion, as ever 
t-iie lirst conspirators did to begin it, ~a>ere enrag-ed to aee a stop put to the further 
effusion of blood, and a foundation laid for a pacification, which would defeat 
their schemps uf extirpation. 

" Theij protested against all f>eace ivitJi the rebels, tvithout regard ta the terms 
of anil ; which must have entaiUfd a perpetual vt^x on the kingdom of Ireland, till 
the nation itsolf was in a manner extirpated." — Carte, I. 453. 

" The rebellion had been suppressed without any of their assistance, were it 
not for their violent measures and threats af extirpation, which, terrifying and 
making the nobility and gentry of the English race desperate, hurried them, in spite 
of their aniinosit!/ against the old Iris-h, into an insurrection. For the like de- 
testable purposes, tliey had starved the war all the time it was carrying on in Ire- 
land, and were angry that a stop -was put to it for a time bif the cessation "-r^- 
Idem, 463. 

f " Sept. 20, 1643. It was resolved, upon the question, that this house doth hold 
that a present cessation of arms -witli the rebels in Ireland is desiructive to the 
protestant religion.'.' dishonourable to the Englisli nation!.' prejudicial to the 
interests of all the three kingdoms .'.' and therefore do declare they neither do nor 
can consent or approve of any treaty of a cessation with the rebels, pretended to be 
begun by the king's commission." — Jouknals, III. 248. 

t " The lords and comm-ons have reason to declare against this plot and design of 
a cessation of arms .'.'.' as being treated and carried on without their advice ; so 
also because of the great prejudice which will thereby redound to the protestant 
religion, and the encouragement and advancement which it will give to the practice 
of popery, when these rebellious Papists shall, by this agreement, continue and set 
up with more freedom their idolatrous worship, their popish superstitions, and 
Romish abominations in all the places of their command, to the dishonouring of 
God, the grieving of all true Protestant hearts, the dissolving of the laws of the crown 
of England, and to the provoking of lite ivratli of a jealous God! as if both king- 
doms had not smarted enough already, for this sin of too much conniving at, and 
tolerating of antichristian idolatry, under pretext of civil contracts and politic agree- 
ments." — RusawonrH, V. .5.57. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 305 

" One to destroy is murder by the law, 
And swords uplifted keep the wretch in awe ; 
To murder thousands takes a glorious name, 
War's sacred art — and strews the road to fame." 

Let me add a most singular and disgraceful fact ; that, by this cessa- 
tion, which afforded the only chance of retrieving liis aff"airs, Charles 
lost some of his most devoted followers, whose rancorous and murder- 
ous spirit of hostility towards the Irish Roman Catholics, outweighed 
eA'en their ardent attachment to their monarch, and their idolatrous 
veneration for the old regime.* 

The government forces in the north, notwithstanding the solemnity 
of the cessation, continued the warHire, with every circumstance of 
slaughter and desolation, in order to provoke the Irish to resume their 
arms.f And the English house of commons was profligate enough to 
order a meeting of the adventurers who had speculated on the estates 
to be confiscated in Ireland, for the purpose of devising means to sup- 
port the British army in Ulster, in the violation of that instrument.^ 

This conduct merits serious consideration. A devouring civil war 
rages through a country, and renders it a fit abode for devils incarnate ; 
mercenary soldiers spread havoc and desolation around; nothing, sacred 
or profane, neither the decrepitude of age, the tenderness of the sex, 
nor the innocence of infants escape their rage ; the altars are sprinkled 
with the blood of human victims. Humanity turns aside from the 
hideous and loathsome scenes, and finds it not wonderful that " it 
repented the Lord that he had made tnan on the earths How infu- 
riate then must be the passions of those who shudder at the delightful 
idea of sheathing the sword ; and who, for the sake of plundering the 
devoted objects of their vengeance, seek to carry on an interminable 

-— "»e®e«" — 

* '• Several of the king's adherents ascribed the cessation to the counsels of the 
queen and her favorites. Some regarded it as a contradiction to those solemn pro- 
testations, which Charles had frequently made against Popery ; and declared that 
after this fatal discovery of his real sentiments, they could no longer continue to 
support his cause!!.'" — Lelaxd, III, 245. 

■\ " The great body of Covenanters in Ulster despised the whole negociation ; the 
parliamentarians of Munster opposed any peace loith t/ie Irish, These reformers, 
in the fulness of their zeal, could be contented only with the extirpation of popery, 
and the rebellious Irish race." — Idem, 331. 

" In the northern province, the Scottish general, Monroe, disclaimed the cessa- 
tion. And though, when he had first slaughtered some unoflending Irish peasants, 
he consented to wait the orders of the state of Scotland, or parliament of England, 
before he should proceed to further acts of hostility, yet he soon received instructions 
to carry on the war, without regard to the king's chief governor." — Idem, 250. 

The officers of the Munster army in a memorial to king Charles I. against the 
cessation, state their " resolve to die a thousand deaths, rather than condescend to 
any peace ivitti tliese perfidious rebels ! ! ! and since death is a tribute -we must 
all pay, ivlio will reprehend the payment of it somewtiat t/ie easier, to purchase by 
it a tcingdom as full of glory, as this is 7ioiv of misery to all honest men ?" — Rcsh- 
■WORTH, V. 974. 

t Dec. 30, 1643. "Ordered that the adventurers of this house for lands in 
Ireland, and the body of adventurers in London, do meet at the Grocers' Hall, on 
Thursday, in the afternoon, at two of the clock, and take into their serious conside- 
ration, by tvhat -ways and means the British army in Ulster, opposing the cessa- 
tion, may be maintained and encouraged to proceed in prosecution of ttiat -war of 
Ireland against tlie rebels .'" — Journals. 



306 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE. 

war of extermination ! for this must have been the obvious and une- 
quivocal end of those who opposed a cessation of hostilities. There 
is probably no crime in the long bead-roll of human wickedness more 
atrocious than the prolongation, unnecessarily, of war, and particu- 
larly of civil war. Of this heinous offence no small portion of those 
men were guilty, whose names rank high in English history; but 
whose ambition, avarice, and rage against the Irish, steeled them against 
the cries of lacerated humanity, which loudly pleaded to stay the pro- 
gress of the devouring sword, and restore the reign of blessed peace 
and tranquillity. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



307 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Was there really a massacre of the Protestants in 1641 .^ Unparal- 
lelecl exaggeration. More Protestants pretended to be killed than 
there were on the island. Temple. Rapin. Hume. Clarendon. 
Conclusive evidence drawn from sir William Petty. Carte's and 
Warner's refutation of the legend. 

" Falsehood and fraud grow up in every soil, 
The product of all climes." — Addison. 

Although I have already in a former chapter incidentally touched on 
the numbers said to be massacred by the Irish in the insurrection of 
1641, I think it proper to resume the subject, and go into it somewhat 
more^ at length, as it is a cardinal point in the vindication I have under- 
taken. 

In order to proceed correctly in the investigation, I shall let the 
accusers narrate (heir own tales, in order to ascertain what is the sum 
and substance of the allegations. 

" The depopulations in this province of JMunster do -well near equal those of the 
■whole kingdoin ! ! /" — Temple, 103. 

"There being, since the rebellion first broke out, unto the time of the cessation 
made Sept. 15, 1043, which was not full two years after, above 300,000 British 
and Protestants cruelly murdered in cold blood! dostroypd some other way, or 
expelled out of their habitations, according to the strictest conjuncture and compu- 
tation of those who seemed best to understand the numbers of English planted in 
Ireland, besides those fetV'-which fell in the heat of fght during the war.^' — Idem, 6. 

"Above 154,000 Protestants were massacred in that kingdom from the 23d Octo- 
ber to the first March following." — Rapin, IX. 343. 

" By some computations, those who perished by all these cruelties are supposed 
to be 150 or 200,000. By the most moderate, and probably the most reasonable 
account, they are made to amount to forty thousand ! if this estimation itself be 
not, as is usual in such cases, somewhat exaggerated /" — Hume, III. 545. 

" A general insurrection of the Irish spread itself over the whole country, in such 
an inhuman and barbarous manner, that there were forty or fifty thousand of the 
English Protestants imirdered, before they szispected themselves to be in any danger, 
or could provide for their defence, by drawing together into towns or strong houses." 
— Clarendon's E. II. 

That " Saul slew his thousands, and David his tens of thousands," 
was, in "olden time," sung by the women of Israel. Every Philis- 
tine was magnified into ten ; every ten into a hundred ; and every 
hundred into a thousand. But the amplifying powers of the Jewish 
women fade into insignificance, when compared with those of the 
Anglo-Hibernian writers. Every Englishman that fell in battle, or 
otherwise, was murdered. Every man was magnified into a hundred ; 
every ten into a thousand ; and every hundred into ten thousand. 

Such a spirit of exaggeration has prevailed in a greater or less degree, 
in all ages. Even in common occurrences, hardly calctilated to excite 
any interest, we daily find, that the statements of current events are so 
highly coloured, as to differ full as much from the reality, as the counte- 
nance of a meretricious courtezan, who lias exhausted her stores of 



308 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

carmine and white-lead, differs from the blooming countenance of an 
innocent country damsel, who depends wholly on the pure ornaments of 
beneficent Nature. This being undeniably the case, where no tempta- 
tion to deception exists, how dreadful must be the falsehood and delu- 
sion in the present case, where ambition, avarice, malice, bigotry, na- 
tional hatred, and all the other dire passions that assimilate men to 
demons, were goaded into activity ! 

In all other cases, but that of the history of Ireland, to convict a wit- 
ness of gross, palpable, and notorious falsehood, would be sufficient to 
invalidate the whole of his evidence ; but such has been the wayward 
fate of that country, that the most gross and manifest forgeries, whicji 
carry their own condemnation with them, are received by the world as 
though they were 

" Confirmation strong as proofs of holy writ." 

Or when some are found too monstrous to be admitted, their falsehood 
and absurdity do not impair the public credulity in the rest of the tales 
depending on the same authority. 

The materials for Irish statistics, at that early period, are rare ; a 
deficiency which involves this subject in considerable difficulty. Were 
correct tables of the population of Ireland to be had, the task would 
be comparatively easy ; and I could put down all those tales, with as 
much ease as I have stamped the seal of flagrant falsehood on the many 
impostures already investigated. 

But I avail myself of a sound rule, to employ the best evidence that 
the nature and circumstances of "the case will admit ; and there are 
fortunately, some important data, on which to reason, in the present 
instance, and to shed the light of truth on this intricate question, and 
dispel the dense clouds with which it has been environed by fraud and 
imposture. 

Sir William Petty, the ancestor of the Lansdowne family, laid the 
foundation of a princely fortune, in the depredations perpetrated on 
the Irish, after the insurrection of 1641. Of course, he had no temp- 
tation to swerve from the truth in their favour ; on the contrary, it was 
his interest, equally with the other possessors of the estates of the 
plundered Irish, to exaggerate their real crimes, and to lend the coun- 
tenance of his reputation to their pretended ones. Hence his testi- 
mony, on this ground, and as a cotemporary, cannot, so far as it tends 
to exonerate those upon whose ruin he raised his immense estate, be 
excepted against by the enemies of the Irish. I shall therefore freely 
cite him in the case : and the reader will at once perceive to what an 
extent delusion has been carried on this subject. 

He states the aggregate number of the Protestants who perished in 
eleven years, to have been 112,000; [Petty, 18,] of Avhom "two- 
thirds were cut off by war, plague, and famine." It is obvious to 
the meanest capacity, if, of 1 12,000, the whole number that fell in that 
space of time, two-thirds were cut off " by war, plague, and famine," 
that those who fell out of war, in cleve72 years, were only 37,000 ! I 
hope to prove, that even this statement, so comparatively moderate, is 
most extravagantly beyond the truth. 

Sir William confutes himself, beyond the power of redemption. 

" Mark how a plain (ale shall put him down." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 309 

He bequeathed to posterity some statistical tables, which throw con- 
siderable light on this subject. They are very meagre, it is true ; but, 
meagre as they are, I believe there are no others ; at all events, 1 know 
of none ; and must therefore avail myself of them. 

He informes us, that the population of Ireland, in 1641, was, 1,466, 
000 ;* and that the relative proportion of the Protestants to the Ca- 
tholics, was as two to eleven ;t of course, it follows, that the popu- 
lation was thus divided; — about 1,241,000 Roman Catholics, and 
225,000 Protestants. 

From this conclusion there is no appeal. 

The supplies of people from England and Scotland, until after the 
final defeat, capture, condemnation, and death of Charles I. were iil- 
considerable 4 and surely it is impossible for a rational being to 
believe, that out of 225,000, there could have been 112,000 destroyed, 
and the residue been able to baffle and defeat the insurgents, who com- 
prised the great mass of the nation. It will therefore, I trust, be 
allowed, as an irresistible conclusion, that sir William Petty's calcu- 
lation, although so far more moderate than any of the " tales of terror" 
quoted at the commencement of this chapter, is most extravagantly 
over-rated, probably trebled, quadrupled or quintreplcd ; and must, of 
absolute necessity, be extravagantly false. 

But even admitting it to be correct, what an immense difference 
between 37,000 in eleven years — and the numbers so confidently 
stated by the various writers of Irish history ! What astonishment 
must be excited by Burton's 300,000, in a few months ; Temple's 
300,000, in less than two years ; May's 200,000 in one month ; War- 
widens 100,000, in one week; or Rapin's 40,000, in a few days ! 
Surely there is not, in the history of the world, any parallel case of 
such gross, palpable, shocking, and abominable deception. Can lan- 
guage be found strong or bold enough to mark the dishonour of those 
who knowingly propagated such falsehoods, or the folly or neglect or 
wickedness of those who adopted and gave them currency ? Their 
names ought to be held up, as " a hissing and reproach," to deter 
others from following in their foul and loathsome track of calumny and 
deception. 

On the subject of the number of victims of the pretended massacre, 
the observations of Carte arc so judicious and unanswerable, that they 
would be sufficient, independent of the other evidence I have produced, 
to put down forever those miserable legends about so many hundreds 
of tliousands of the Protestants cut ofi" in a few weeks, or months, oT 
years, and to stamp on ihe foreheads of their authors tlie broad seal of 
outrageous imposture. He states, that the extravagant numbers asserted 

* " This shows there Vv^ere, in 1G41, 1,466,000 people." — Ibid. 

■\ For the present I admit this proportion ; as, however exaggerated the number 
of the Protestants may be, it does not affect the point at issue. But, from various 
circumstances, it is doubtful whether there was one Protestant to eleven Roman 
Catholics. 

\ More Protestants, it is highly probable, removed from Ireland during the pro -' 
gressof the war, than the number of soldiers who were sent thither from England.- 

3» 



310 VINDICL^ HIBEiiNIC.i:. 

to be massacred, were " more than there were of English, at that lime, 
in all Ireland. ^^ — Carte, I, 177. 

" It is certain, that the great body of the English was settled in Munster and 
Leinster, ivhere very few murders were committed ; and that in Ulster, which way 
the dismal scene of the massacre, there were above 100,000 Scots, who, before the 
general plantation of it, had settled in great numbers in the counties of Down and 
Antrim : and new shoals of them had come over, upon the plantation of the six 
escheated counties : and they were so very powerful therein, that the Irisli, eiilier 
out of fear of their numbers, or some other politic reason, spared ttiose of ttiat 
nation, malcing proclamation, on pain of death, thai no Scotchman should be mo- 
lested in body, goods, or lands, whilst they raged with so much cruelty against the 
English." — Ibid. 

" It cannot therefore reasonably be presumed, that there were at most above 
20,000 English souls, of all ages and sexes, in Ulster at that time : and of these, as 
appears by the lords justices' letter, there were several tliousands g-ot safe to l}ublin, 
and icere subsisted there for many months afterivards ; besides 6, OQO ivomen and 
children, which captain Mervyn saved in Fermanagh ; and others that got safe to 
Derry, Colerain, and Carrickfergus, and went from those and other ports into En- 
gland." — Idem, 178. 

It is impossible lo reconcile the latter part of the above quotations 
with the rest ; a case, as we have repeatedly stated, that incessantly 
occurs in Irish histories. The author informs us, on rational grounds, 
that there were " nof more than 20,000 English in Ulster ;^^ that 
^^ several thousand got safe to Dublin f^ that " 6,000 women and 
children were saved in Fermanagh ;" and that " others got safe to 
Derry, Colerain, and Carrickfergus." These all-important and con- 
clusive facts he connects with a statement of " the extreme cruelty 
with which the insurgents raged against the English," and Avitli a no- 
tice of the " dismal scene of the massacre,^^ the subjects of which 
massacre are not very easily found, and, at all events, could not have 
been very numerous : for, let us add together " several thousands," 
and " 6,000," and the " others" who " got safe" into the specified 
towns, where there were numerous garrisons ; where, of course, in a 
time of violence and commotion, the inhabitants of the circunijacent 
country would naturally seek refuge; and where, it is not extrava- 
gant to suppose, that " the others," Avho thus "got safe," might have 
amounted to some thousands : let us then deduct the aggregate from 
20,000, the total number of English, and we shall find a slender re- 
mainder. But the plain fact is, that the wiilers on this subject are so 
haunted by the idea of a massacre, that although it rests on the sandy 
foundation of forgery and perjury, as shall be fully proved in the se- 
quel, and although many of their own statements, in the most une- 
quivocal manner, give it the lie direct, their minds cannot be divested 
of the terrific object. These passages from Carte furnish a strong 
case in point. The most ardent friend of Ireland could not desire a 
much more complete proof of the fallacy of the accounts of the pre- 
tended massacre, than is here given by this author himself, who, 
nevertheless, wonderful to tell! appears to resist the evidence of his 
own facts, and to be blind to the obvious inference to which they in- 
evitably lead. 

Ferdinando Warner, a clergyman of the church of England, appears 
to have been the only writer who has gone into any elaborate investi- 
gation of the legendary tales of the pretended massacre ; and his views 
of the subject well deserve the most serious attention of the reader. 
After stating the uncertainty of the accounts, and the consequent diffi.- 



CHAPTER XXIX, 311 

culty of making an exact estimate, he pronoimcos a strong and une- 
quivocal sentence of condemnation on the Munchausen talcs we are 
combating: and avers, that 

"It is easif enovgh to demonstrate the falsehood of the relation'^f- every Pro- 
testant hisiorian of this rebellion^ — Wahnkk, 286. ■'^■ 

He proceeds to render a satisfactory account of the grounds on which 
this statement rests : ■* 

" To any one who considers hotu thinly Ireland -was at that time peopled by 
Protestants, and the province of Ulster particularly, xvhere was the cliief scene 
of the inassacre, those kelations upok the face of them appear incredi- 
ble." — Ibid. 

"Setting aside all opinions and calculations in this affair, which, besides their 
uncertaint}', are without any precision as to the space of time in which the murders 
were committed, the evidence from the depositions in the manuscript above men- 
tioned stands thus: — The number of people killed, upon positive evidence, collected 
in two years after the insurrection broke out, adding them all together, amounts 
only to ^TOO tlioitsand one hiindred and nine ; on the reports of other Protestants, 
07ie thousand six hundred cmd 7iineteen more ; and on the report of some of the 
rebels themselves, a further number of three hundred; the whole making four 
thousand and t-wenty-eiglit. Besides these murders, there is, in the same collection, 
evidence, on the report of others, of eight thousand killed by ill usage : and if we 
should allow that the cruelties of the Irish out of war, extended to these numbers, 
which, considering the nature of sevei-al of the depositions, I think in my conscience 
•ive cannot, yet to be impartial wc must allow, that tliere is no pretence for laying 
a greater mmiber to their charge. This account is also corroborated by a letter, 
which I copied out of the council books at Dublin, written on the fifth of May, 
sixteen hundred and fifty-lwo, ten years after the beginning of the rebellion, from 
the parliament commissioners in Ireland to the English parliament. After exciting 
them to further severity against the Irish, as being afraid " their behaviour towards 
this people may never sufficiently avenge their murders and massacres, and lest 
the parliament might shortly be in pursuance of a speedy settlement of this nation, 
and thereby some tender concessions might be concluded," the commissioners tell 
them that it appears "besides eiglit Imndred forty-eight fannlies, t fie re were killed, 
huvged, burned, and drowned, six thousand and sixty-two." — Warner, 297. 

Thus I close this subject with stating, that these hundreds of thou- 
sands are reduced by Carte to 20,000, less "several thousands" and 
"6,000 women and children," and "others;" and by Warner to 
about 13,000, of whom only 4,028 were murdered, a large portion of 
which detail, " in his conscience," he cannot allow! Would it not 
be an insult to the reader, to ofler another word, to prove the utter 
falsehood of all the terrific statements given of the subject, wliereby 
the world has been so long and so grossly deceived? 






312 - ' rt^ % VINDICLE HIBERNlCyE. 




CHAPTER XXX, 

Enquiry info the pretended cruelties of the Irish. May. Temple. 
Whitelock. Leland. Carte. Hume. Macaidey. Fugitives tra- 
velling on their knees. Refusing food. Ghosts on rivers for 
months screaming for revenge. Hearsay evidence. 

" So many of their sayings which arc recorded in the manuscript collection of 
depositions in my custody, u> e so ridiculous, or ijicredible, or co7iiradiciory to one 
another, as shew plainly that they spoke what their own, or the difi'erent passions 
and sentiments of their leaders prompted; sometimes, what came uppermost, or theif 
thotiglit ivo7ild best serve or ■vi^idicute their cause.'.'" — Waunee, 14G. 

" There is no credit to be given to any thing that was said by those people, which 
had not other evidence to confirm it : and the reason ~vhi/ so many idle silly tales 
■were registered, of -what this body heard another body say .'.' as to swell the col- 
lection to two-and-thirty thick volumes in folio, closely written, it is easier to con-' 
jecture than it is to commend." — Ibid. 

" The bulk of this immense collection is parol evidence, andiipmi report of common 
fame : and what sort of evidence that is, may be easily learnt by those who are con- 
versant with the common people of any country ; especially when their imaginations 
arc terrified with cruelties, and their passions heated by sufferings." — Idem, 295. 

The frauds and falsehoods already exposed to the reprobation of 
the reader, respecting the immense number of persons said to have 
been inurdered during the insurrection of 1641, must have preparecj 
him to lend an impartial ear to the exposure of frauds and falsehoods 
equally gross and shocking, respecting the pretended cruelties of the 
insurgents. 

In Chapter XXIX, the accusers were allowed to prefer their charges 
in their own language, without exaggeration or extenuation. It is the 
only fair course of procedure. I pursue the same plan here ; and lay 
before the reader the revolting statements of May,* Temple,! White- 
lock,!: Leland, § Carte,!] Hume,^ and Mrs. Macauley,** 

* " People of all conditions and qualities, of every age and sex, daily presented 
themselves, spoiled and stripped, with no coverings Init rags or livisted straw ip 
pover their privities .'/.' some wounded almost to death ; others frozeji ivith cold.' 

" They appeared like walking ghosts in every street ; and all the barns, stables, 
and outhouses were filled with them, where they soon died in so great numbers, that 
all the chvrch-yards of Dublin could not conlain them.'.'.'" — Mat, 86. 

■\ '■ Some had their bellies ript up, and so left with their guts running about their 
heels. But this horrid kind of cruelty was principally reserved by these inhuman 
monsters for women, whose sex they neither pitied nor spared, hanging up several 
women, many of them great with child, whose bellies they ript up as they hung, and 
so let the little infants fall out ; a course they ordinarily took with such as they 
found in that sad condition. And sometimes they gave Iheir children to srvine .' 
Some the dogs eat ! and some, taken alive out of their mother's bellies, they cast 
into ditches! And for sucking children, and others of a riper age, some had their 
brains knocked out ; others were tramjiled under foot to death. Some they cut in 
gobbets and pieces ; others they rijiped up alive.' Some were found i7t the fields, 



CHAPTER XXX. 313 

To establish the falsehood of tliese hideous portraits of cruelty, a 
few lines might suffice. Those lines would carry conviction. It 

— »»>e®s«<— 

sucking the breasts of their murdered mothers ! Others lay stifled in vaults and 
cellars ; others starved in caves, crying out to their mothers rather to send them out 
to be Jcilled by the rebels, than to suffer iliem to starve there." — Tejiplp., 88. 

^ " They drowned many hundred men, women, and innocent children, in the 
rivers. Some they sent to sea in a rotten vessel, without any sails or rudder, to be 
cast away : and great numbers of the English, after they had done all drudgeries for 
the rebels in hopes of mercy, had all their throats cut by them ; and with some of 
them the execrable villai?is and monsters tvould make themselves pastime and 
sport, before their death, trying who could hack deepest into the Englishmen's flesh ; 
and so with the highest torture and cruelty mangled them to death." — White- 
lock, 49. 

§ " Sometimes they enclosed them in some house or castle, which they set on fire, 
with a brutal indifference to their . cries, and a hellish triumph over their expiring 
agonies. Sometimes the captive English were plunged into the first river, to which 
they had been driven by their tormentors. One hundred and ninety were, at once, 
precipitated from the bridge of Portnedown. Irish ecclesiastics -were seeii encou- 
raging the carnage. The women forgot the tenderness of their sex, pursued the 
Englisli -with execrations, and imbrued their hands in blood. Even children, in 
their feeble malice, lifted tlie dagger against the lielpless prisoners." — Leland, 
III. 147. 

It " They gave a loose to the mortal hatred they bore the English ; and rivers of 
blood were inhumanly shed! The island, formerly renowned for its piety, was now 
become a scene of massacres, which it would be shocking to humanity to repeat. 
Every thing that the ferocity of their minds and the brutality of their nature 
CQuld suggest, was put in practice by ike common soldiers .'" — Caute, I. 177. 

t " An universal massacre commenced of the English now defenceless, and pas- 
sively resigned to their inhuman fees .'.' .' No age, no sex, no condition was spared. 
The wife, weeping for her butchered husband, and embracing her helpless children, 
was pierced with them, and perished by the same stroke. The old, the young, the 
vigorous, the infirm, underwent a like fate, and were confounded in one common ruin. 
In vain did flight save from the first assault. Destruction was every where let loose, 
and met the hunted victims at every turn." — HujtK, III. 542. 

** " Slaughtering the English was represented by the priests as the most meri- 
torious of religious acts ! ! They exhorted the people with tears in their eyes, to 
rid the world of these declared enemies to the Catholic faith and piety. The mur- 
der of Protestants, they said, would be a good preservative against the pains of pur- 
gatory, nor would they administer the sacraments, but on condition that neither 
man, woman, nor child should be spared! ! ! !" — Macaui-et, III. 71. 

"Some thousands of English were burned in their houses; others were stripped 
naked, and, in hundreds in a drove, pricked forward with swords and spikes to 
river sides, and from thence pushed headlong into the stream. Some were manacled 
and thrown into dungeons, and there left to perish at leisure. Others were jnatigled, 
and left to languish in the highways.' Some were happy enough to suj^er tlie 
milder death of hmiging. Other more unfortunate wretches were buried alive. 
This was the fate of a poor little infant, who, whilst he was putting in the grave, 
cried out to his dead parent, ' Mammy, save me !' yet could not his innocent cry 
pierce the heart of the hardened wretch from whom he received his fate. Some were 
mangled and hung upon tenter hooks .'/ Some with ropes round their necks, were 
dragged through woods, bogs, and ditches till they died. Some -uere hanged up by 
the arms, and then cut and slashed, to see how many wounds an Englishman 
could endure. Some were ripped up, and their entrails left hanging about their 
heels. These kinds of cruelties were exercised on children of all ages, and many 
women with child suflered the same fate. Children were forced to carry their 
sick and aged parents to the place of slaugliter !'.!!! There were of those bar- 
barians some so ingenious in their cruelty as to tempt their prisoners with the hopes 
of preserving their jives, to imbrue their hands in the blood of their relations ! 
Children were in this manner impelled to be the executioners of their parents, 



314 VINDICL^, HIBERNIC^. 

would be enough to state the simple fact, that ihe originals were 
drawn by the miserable and abandoned falsifiers, who have so long 
deluded the world with a belief that there were 100,000 persons mas- 
sacred in one week, 200,000 in a month, and 300,000 in two years ; 
(whereas sir William Petty, as I have slated, makes the v>hole num- 
ber that fell in eleven years, by ivar, plague, famine, and massacre, 
112,000, which I have proved extravagantly over-rated; and AVar- 
ner, who had no partiality for the Roman Catholics, and who took 
more pains to investigate the subject than any other writer, either of 
the seventeenth or eighteenth century, reduces the number hilled out 
of ivar to 4,028; with which Carte's account appears to correspond;), 
— who have recorded, that a general insurrection and massacre took 
place throughout the kingdom, on the 23d of October, 1641, wdiereas 
three-fourths of it were, for entire weeks afterwards, in a state of per- 
fect tranquillity; — who have also recorded the falsehood, that Ireland 
enjoyed a sort of millenium for forty years previous to the insurrection, 
whereas she suffered, during that period, every species of the most 
revolting tyranny; in a word, who are, in almost every page of this 
work, convicted of a total disregard of truth. AH these stories were 
dictated by the same spirit of imposture ; penned by the same writers ; 
rest, of course, on the same authority ; and the falsehood of those 
already discussed being unanswerably proved, the residue must share 
the same sentence of condemnation. 

This would be sufficient. Those convicted of fraud and falsehood, 
on so many points, where detection trod so closely on their heels, are 
utterly undeserving of credit, in any case ; but more particularly in 
one wherein so many of the hideous passions of our nature, malice, 
revenge, ambition, and an insatiable thirst for rapine, spoil, confiscation, 
and extermination combined, and where the difficulty of detection 
invites the fraudulent to falsehood and forgery. 

But of this plea I scorn to avail myself. I shall enter into a full ex- 
amination of the evidence on which these legends rest; and feel confi- 
dent that it will excite astonishment, how, even in times of the grossest 
delusion, they could have ever gained the slightest credence. 

Temple, of all the writers whom I have quoted, is the only original 
author. His book is one unvaried tissue of fables, of which he was 
himself so much and so justly ashamed, that he endeavoured to sup- 
press it; and actually refused permission to the booksellers of London 
to print a second edition.* But his endeavours were in vain ; it too 

■ivives of their husbands, mothers of their children !.' and, then, when they were 
thus rendered accomplices in guilt, they were deprived of that life they endeavoured 
to purchase at so horrid a price. Children -were boiled to death in cauklrmis I.' 
Some ivretches ivere fayed alive! Others -were stoned to death ! Others had their 
eiies plucked out ; their ears, nose, cJieeks, and liands cut off! and thus rendered 
spectacles to satiate the malice of their enemies. Some were buried up to the chin, 
and there left to perish by degrees. One Protestant minister -was put into a cask, 
lined xvith iron spikes, and tJien rolled up and doivn till lie -ivas dead !!! Parents 
■ivere rousted to death before titeir cliildren, and ddldren before their parents .'" — 
Idem, 71,72. 

* Extract of a letter from the earl of Essex, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, to Mr. 
Secretary Coventry. 

Dublin Castle, Jan. 6, 1674-5. 
"I am lo acknowlodgo the receipt of yours of the 22d of December, wherein you 



CHAPTER XXX. 315 

much flattered the existing prejudices, — too much favoured the views 
of those who unjustly possessed the estates of which the Irish were 
pkindered, to hope that it would be allowed to sink into oblivion. 

Carte's account affords a most striking display of the infatuation 
that prevails on this topic. The reader, in page 310, will iind that he 
states, that the English were principally settled in Leinster and Mun- 
ster ; that there were few murders committed in those provinces ; that 
the insurgents spared the Scotch, who composed the great mass of the 
Protestant population of Ulster ; that there were not in that province 
more than 20,000 English ; that of this number "several thousands" 
escaped to Dublin ; that " 6,000 were saved in Fermanagh ; that 
" others," not improbably thousands, found an asylum in three fortified 
towns : and yet this same historian, in the very same page, and at the 
distance of a few lines, pathetically and feelingly informs his readers, 
that rivers of blood ivcre shed!! and massacres perpetrated, ivhich it 
would be shocking to humanity to repeat! ! 

While stating these particulars, mixed sensations of astonishment 
and indignation are excited, which the reader may conceive, but which 
language cannot express. One is lost in the mass of reflections excited 
by this stupendous delirium of the human mind. It affords another 
striking instance of the gross and glaring contradictions so constantly 
found between the different parts of the same history of Irish affairs. 
It is an extraordinary fatality, from which even the very few whose 
intentions appear correct, have not escaped. I have frequently had 
occasion to call the reader's attention to it; and am persuaded, there 
is no parallel to be found. In various cases, in which, after the histo- 
rian has given a series of strong, bold, decisive facts, calculated to ex- 
cite admiration of the endowments, sympathy for the sufferings, and 
eager wishes for the success of that oppressed, and, I had almost said, 
heaven-abandoned nation, he draws inferences not merely unwarranted 
by his facts, but in direct hostility with them. Of this wonderful con- 
tradiction between fact and induction, there are probably in Warner 
fifty, and in Leland a hundred instances ; but there is none more re- 
markable than this of Carte. It would be like a search after the phi- 
losopher's stone ; the genial climate and verdure of Italy in Iceland ; 
free government in Turkey; or ease and opulence in the wretched 
cabins of the Irish peasantry ; to go in quest of those " rivers of 
blood," or those " massacres," so " shocking to humanity," out of the 
remnant of his 20,000 English, after the " several thousands" whom 
he rescued fi-om the skeins or stilettoes of the Irish assassins." 

Mrs. Macauley has outdone the other painters of those imaginary 
scenes. More than half of her detail appears to be the production of 
her own invention ; as there is nothing in Temple, or Rush worth, or 
any other writer I have seen, to warrant it ; particularly the story of 

mention a book that was newly published, concerning the cruelties committed in 
Ireland, at the beginning of the late war. Upon further inquiry, I find sir J. Tem- 
ple, master of the rolls here, author of that book, was this last year sent to by 
several stationers of London, to have his consent to the printing thereof. But he 
assures vie that he utterly denied it ; and whoever printed it, did it without his 
knowledge. Thus much I thought fit to add to what I formerly said upon this 
occasion, that 1 mig-ht do this gentleman right, in case it -was suspected he had 
any share in publishing this new editio7i ! ! !"— Essex, 2. 



316 VINDICI^ HIBEKNIC.E. 

the clergyman put into the cask with ironspikcs, and rolled to death, 
and the children roasted to death before their parents, and the parents 
before their children. 

Of all the writers on this subject, there is none deserving of more 
unqualified censure than Hume. He was under the influence of none 
of the dire passions that actuated some of the others. With a power- 
ful mind and keen penetration, it was his duty to have examined 
carefully the credibility of his authorities ; and it required a very 
cursory examination, indeed, of Temple's history, to be satisfied that 
to quote it was an ineffable disgrace. Yet, astonishing to tell, out of 
forty-eight references, in his account of the pretended massacre of 
1641, there are no less than thirly-three to Temple, eleven to Rush- 
worth, and only two each to Nalson and Whitelock. How utterly 
unworthy this procedure was of the talents and reputation of Hume ; 
how indelible a stain it attaches to his memory ; and how far, as re- 
spects this individual case, he is reduced to a level with the common 
race of historians, may be readily conceived, from the extracts which 
I shall produce from Temple's history. A large portion of the most 
horrible passages, for which he quotes that work, are grounded on 
hearsay testimony ; which is distinctly stated in the depositions, as will 
appear in the course of the present chapter, and which, therefore, could 
not have been unknown to Hume, and ought to have forbidden him to 
place the least dependence on their authority. 

But his offence is not confined to the oi'iginal use of those " tales 
of terror." No: a much higher and more inexpiable one remains 
behind. 

Dr. John Curry published a work of transcendant merit, of which 
the title is " Historical and Critical Review of the Civil Wars of Ire- 
land," in which he fully displayed the falsehood, and completely 
overthrew the narrative of Temple. The peculiar characteristic of 
this work is, that almost every important fact it contains is supported 
by the most indisputable authority, not merely in the form of refer- 
ence, but generally by exact quotation. It may be safely asserted, 
that a more valuable historical work was never published.* The au- 
thor, in 1764, sent a copy of it to David Hume, then at Paris, with a 
request that he would give it a candid consideration, and correct the 
errors that he had committed, by his dependence on such a decep- 
tions guide as Temple. To this letter Hume sent an " evasive cm- 
S2ver,''-f in which he declined committing himself by any promise ; 

* This review is earnestly recommended to the attention of the learned world- 
It is a perfect model of the manner in which history, on all disputed points, ought 
to be written. So luminous is Curry's style, so cogent his reasoning, and so indis- 
putable his authorities, that the most' inveterate prejudices must give way, on a can- 
did perusal of the work. 

f " I am here at such a distance from my authorities, that I cannot produce all 
the arguments which determined me to give the account you complain of, with re- 
gard to the Irish massacre. I only remember I sought truth, and thought I found 
it. The insurrection might be excused as having liberty for its object. The vio- 
lence also of the puritanical parliament, struck a just terror into all the Catholics. 
But the method of conducting the rebellion, if we must call it by that name, was 
certainly such, and you seem to own it, as deserved the highest blame, and was one 
of the most violent efforts of barbarism and bigotry united. D- H. i 

* Cun-y, I. 215. 



CHAPTER XXX. 317 

and never, in any subsequent edition, corrected a single error in this 
part of his work. On this conduct there can, among upright men, be but 
one sentence pronounced, a most unqualified sentence of reprobation. 

To travel through tlie loathsome details of the evidence by which 
the terrific descriptions of the massacre, (as it is pompously styled,) 
are supported, is as disgusting to the moral sense, as it would be to 
the olfactory nerve to travel through filthy shambles, where neglect, 
and consequent pixtrescena )iad trebled the natural noisomeness of 
the place. These details exhibit human nature in its most hideous 
forms. Nothing meets the mind's eye, but fraud, forgery, and per- 
jury; and, to crown the whole, the immolation, under the mockery of 
justice, of many of those" wretched victims who had escaped the insatiate 
rage of Coote, Inchequin, Orrery, Hamilton, Grenville, Ireton, Crom- 
well, and the other sanguinary commanders who were engaged in the 
extirpation of the Irish. 

Those who have attended courts of justice cannot have failed to 
observe the frigiitful frequency of perjury, so gross and so palpable 
as not to escape the detection of the most superficial observer, often 
in cases of slight importance, and holding out, of course, little temp- 
tation to the perpetration of this odious crime. When, therefore, 
nearly the whole fee simple of a fertile island was at stake ; when 
rapine made hasty strides in the confiscation of millions of acres ; 
when an estate of one, two, or three hundred thousand acres depend- 
ed, as was often the lamentable case, on the oath of a single perjured 
witness ; when no witness was too base, too profligate, loo infamous, 
— no testimony too extravagant, too incredible, too impossible, to be 
admitted, to prove the guilt, confiscate the property, or sacrifice the 
life, of an Irishman; had the tales embraced in those depositions been 
all plausible and consistent; had each corroborated the others ; had 
there not been the slightest contradiction between them, still every 
sound and unprejudiced mind would receive the accusations with 
large drawbacks and allowances; knowing well, that strong tempta- 
tions to fraud and villainy will readily overcome the scruples of the 
profligate and abandoned part of mankind ; that greater temptations to 
fraud, forgery, and perjury, never existed; that they were never more 
kindly received or encouraged; and also knowing, that during periods 
of civil war, when all the vile passions of human nature are let loose 
from their usual restraints, — when party rage, national antipathies, and 
religious persecution, all combine their deleterious influence, to de- 
moralize and brutalize mankind, every species of profligacy and turpi- 
tude is nursed as in a hotbed. 

How revolting is the fact, that a large portion of this evidence, I 
repeat, and wish indelibly impressed on the reader's mind, is sworn 
to on hearsay ; that it is generally deficient of probability, and in many 
cases even of possibility ; that it carries on its face the most irrefraga- 
ble proofs of its utter falsehood, of the perjury of the witnesses, and of 
the wickedness of the judges who took the depositions ! Many of 
those depositions relate to circumstances utterly impossible; as the 
shrieking of ghosts, standing upright in rivers, crying for revenge; 
naked bodies, struck at with drawn swords, proving invulnerable ; 
grease adhering to the knives of murderers, in sufficient quantities to 
make candles ; persons cut and hacked, and their bowels torn out, 
without shedding blood, '&c. &c. 

40 



318 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

All the depositions taken at various times and places, to establish 
the guilt of the Irish, have been collected together, and bound up in 
thirty-two volumes, which are paged, indexed, and preserved with 
care in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. From these sir John 
Temple made a selection of those best calculated to answer his pur- 
pose. We may i'airly presume, that, in forming his anthologia, he 
culled the sweetest flowers, and that those that remain are inferior to 
those he selected. Of the latter, I shall give such specimens, as can- 
not fail to excite the astonishment and horror of every man whose 
conscience is not seared with the hot iron of inextinguishable hatred 
to Ireland and Irishmen. 

It may be a matter of surprise, why the tales were not dressed in 
better form ; why, since plausible stories cost the inventors as little 
talents or trouble as incredible ones, they did not frame consistent 
narratives, which would stand the test of examination, and not carry 
their own condemnation with them. The answer is obvious. The 
taste of the purchasers regulates the manufacture of every article ; and 
the object being to bear down a nation hated for the injustice it had 
suffered, envied for the little property it still possessed, and devoted to 
destruction by religious bigotry and the spirit of rapine and plunder, 
the more terrible the tales, the more acceptable. The supernatural 
power of witches, and the apparition of ghosts, were as firmly be- 
lieved in those days of ignorance, as the existence and justice of the 
solemn league and covenant. Apparitions were therefore called in, 
as a necessary part of the machinery, to prop the evidence of the ter- 
ror-inspiring massacre, and wonderfully heightened its effect. Mil- 
lions of acres of land, and hundreds of lives, were sacrificed to appease 
the manes of those, whose screaming, shrieking ghosts were, for 
months together, invoking vengeance on their murderers, at Portne- 
down bridge ! 

The depositions quoted by Temple, and which form the basis of 
his history, may be fairly divided into four classes : 

I. Those which assert things contrary to the order ofnature ; as the 
appearance of ghosts, &c. 

II. Those which rest wholly on hearsay; 

III. Those which are so manifestly improbable, as to preclude the 
assent of rational beings ; 

IV. Those which are drawn up without any internal evidence of 
their falsehood. 

That the two first classes are to be rejected, without a moment's 
hesitation, no man will dare deny. That they ever were admitted, 
and that such men as Carte, Warner, Leland, and Hume, should have 
drawn from them any portion of the materials of their histories, must 
be matter of most profound astonishment. 

The third class merits the same fate. I will give two instances, in 
illustration. May and Temple both state, that many of the English 
were so " st/rio/erf," by the fatigues of their flight from the murder- 
ous rebels, that they crept into Dublin on their knees!* To a person 

* " Some over wearied with long travel, and so svrbatecl as ififv canip creeping- on 
tlieir knees /" — Tkmple, 55. 

" Some, tired with travel, and so surbated that tliey came into the city creeping 
on their Icnees." — Mat, 86. 



CHAPTER XXX. 319 

unacquainted with the topography of Ireland, it might appear that 
these miserable fugatives, who were so " surbated," had travelled 
two or three thousand miles over sands or rocks, or both; and wore 
out not only their shoes and stockings, but their feet. He could not 
conceive that the most distant point of the north, from Dublin, was 
not above a hundred and fifty or sixty miles ; the average distance of 
the chief seats of the insurrection only about ninety; and the roads 
neither sandy nor stony. But when he is duly enlightened on these 
very abstruse points, and has reflected that a man not goaded on by 
apprehensions of skeins or daggers, could with ense walk one hundred 
miles in four or five days; that with such powerful stimuli, he would 
probably travel them in two or three; that it is not usual, in two or 
three, or even in four or five days' travelling; to wear out either shoes 
or stockings ; that even if the shoes or stockings were worn out, it 
requires a far greater extent of travelling to wear out the feet; and 
that there is no instance on record, of a man preferring to travel on 
his knees instead of his feet, especially when fleeing from assassins: 
when he has, I say, duly weighed these considerations, and various 
others that must arise in his mind, he will conclude, that no man 
would have ever devised such a wretched story, but an abandoned 
and worthless impostor ; and that none would give credit to it, but 
those whose folly was exactly commensurate with the fraud of the 
narrator. 

The idea of people flying from the skeins and daggers of assassins, 
and so " surbated,^'' by a journey of fifty, a hundred, or a hundred and 
fifty miles, as to be obliged to creep or crawl on their knees, is so ab- 
surd, so ridiculous, so farcical, so improbable, as to excite contempt ; 
and would itself, if it stood single, be almost sufficient to destroy the 
credit of any historian, who could seriously attempt to impose such a 
romance on the world. 

I shall be pardoned for glancing at another case of the testimony 
of this class. Temple informs us, that some of those '■'■ surbated ''' 
fugitives, who were " ohnost naked,'''' refused to cover themselves with 
clothes, which were oflered them; that they " woidd not stir to fetch 
themselves food, though they knew ivhere it stood ready for them ;" 
and that " they lay in their own dung.^''* Comment on such legends 
would be insulting the understanding of the reader. I presume 

* " Those of better quality, who could not frame themselves to be common beg- 
gars, crept into private places : and some of them, that had not private friends to 
relieve them, even wasted silently away, and so died without noise, I have known 
some of them that lay almost naked, and having clothes se7it, laid them by, refus- 
ing to put tliem on !'.'. Others that -would not stir to fetch themselves food, tliovgh 
tliey Icneiv ivliere it stood ready for tliem .'.'.' But they continued to lie nastily in 
their filthy rags, and even their own dfng ! ! not taking care to have any thing 
clean, handsome, or comfortable about them : and so even worn out with the misery 
of the journey, and cruel usage, having their spirits spent, their bodies wasted, and 
their senses failing, lay here pitifully languishing ; and soon after they had recover- 
ed this town, ve7-y many of the?n died, leaving their bodies as momnnents of the 
most inliuman cruelties used towards tliem. The greatest part of the women and 
children, thus barbarously expelled out of their habitations, perished in the city of 
Dublin : and so great numbers of them were brought to their graves, as all tlie 
church-yards -within the -whole to-wn ivere of too narrow a compass to contain .'" — 
Temple, 55. 



320 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

that every account of this description is nearly on a level witli the 
story of the ghosts that were perched in the river, screaming for re- 
venge from Christmas till the end of Lent; and is entitled to the same 
unqualified rejection. 

The fourth class alone is entitled to any consideration ; and even 
that stands a fair chance of being involved in tlie same condemnation. 
Perjury was the order of the day; witnesses were suborned to shed 
innocent blood:* and where we can establish, beyond contradiction, 
the absolute and unqualified perjury of so many of the witnesses, who 
swear positively to impossibilities, or to tales, of " what this body 
heard another body say,^^ [Warner, 146,] and, above all, when such 
a man as sir William Petty, boasted that he " had witnesses that would 
swear through a three-inch board," we are warranted in rejecting even 
that small portion of tlie evidence which wears a plausible appearance ; 
for it would be extraordinary, if none of the perjurers could tell a con- 
sislent tale. 

Those who have felt an interest in the support of fiaud and impos- 
ture ; whose blind prejudices rendered them insensible to the forgeries 
and perjuries on which Temple's history is grounded; or, to give 
their conduct a more favourable construction, who perhaps had never 
examined his book, have endeavoured to secure it a reputation and cur- 
rency of which it is utterly unworthy. But it may be confidently 
averred, that no man who has read it with due attention can give the 
least credit to it, unless he be blind and deaf to the most common rules 
of evidence; and no man who has so read it, will pretend to believe it, 
unless he means to delude and deceive. 

These strong assertions require equally strong support: no other 
would bear me out, or warrant the use of them. I trust I shall satisfy 
the most fastidious reader, that, however pointed is this reprobation 
of Temple's history, it is very far from over-strained. It will be an 
eternal subject of astonishment, how it has happened, that a lying 
legend, which carried a load of perjury sufficient " to sink a seventy- 
four," was ever able to support itself, and was not, with its wretched 
author, 

" Damned to everlasting " infamy. 

No reason would be suftieient, short of what I liave already stated ; 
that the confiscation of 10,000,000 acres of the soil of Ireland, pro- 
jected by the London adventurers, sanctioned in part by the long 
parliament,! and in a great measure carried into effect by Oliver 
Cromwell, depended for its justification on this history, which inte- 
rested so many thousands in the support of it, that, had it been incom- 
parably more fabulous than it really is, their influence, particularly 

•* The reader is requested to turn to the duke of Ormonde's statement of the ap- 
jplication to the privy council for the wages of prostitution ;t that is payment for 
money expended for hiring those witnesses whose "feet xuere swift to slied iimocent 
blood ;" and above all, to the horrible fact of a jury finding one thousand bills of 
indictment in two days.§ 

j- Supra, 269. 

% Supra, 293. § Ibid. 



CHAPTER XXX.- 321 

as they have, ever since its first appearance, been the dominant party 
ip Ireland, would have rescued it from the noisome pool of shame, 
disgrace, and obUvion, into which it would otherwise have been pre- 
cipitated. 

First class of depositions. 
Impossibilities. 

" James Geare, of the county of Monaghan, deposeth, That the rcliels at Clownes 
murdered one James Netterville, proctor to the minister there, who, ulthough tie -was 
diversely -wounded, liin belly ripped, up, and fas entrails lateen out, and laid above 
a yard from turn, yet tie bled not at all, until they lifted him up, and carried liim 
awa}' ; at which this deponent being an eye-witness, much wondered ; and tlius 
barbarously they used him, after they had drawn him to go to mass with them." — 
Tf.mplk,JS8. 

" Mr. George Crcighton, minister of Virginia, in the county of Cavan, deposeth, 
among other particulars in his examination, That divers women brought into his 
house a young woman, almost naked, to whom a rogue came up on the way, these 
women being present, and required her to give him her money, or else he would kill 
her, and so dretv tiis sword; her answer was, 'You cannot kill me, unless God 
give you leave ; and his will be done :' ivtiereupon ttie rogue ttirust ttiree times at 
tier natced body, ivitti tiis drawn sword, and yet never pierced tier stein ; whereat 
he being, as it seems, much confounded, went away and left her : and that he saw 
this woman, and heard ttiis particular related by divers ivoinen, who were by, and 
saw what they reported." — Idem, 123. 

This wonderful story, be it observed, is testified to by a reverened 
minister of God, who was admirably qualified to authenticate it, as 
" he heard it related by divers women, who saw what they reported.'''' 

The most extraordinary and extravagant circumstance is the ap- 
pearairce of the ghosts of murdered persons, which stationed them- 
selves in the middle of a river, breast-high, and remained there for 
three months, that is, from December 20th, 1641, till the following 
Lent, seeking vengeance on the " bloody Papists," crying " Revetige, 
Revenge, Revenge." 

" Catharine, the relict of William Cooke, late of the county of Afmagh, carpen- 
ter, sworn and examined, saith, That about the 20th of December, 1641, a great 
number of rebels, in that county, did most barbarously drown, at that time, one 
hundred and eighty Protestants, men, women, and children, in the river, atthe-bridge 
of Portnedown ; and that about nine days aftei^wards, stie saw a vision or spirit, 
in ttie slinpe of a man, as she apprehended, that appeared in that river, in the place 
of the drowning, bolt uprigtit, breast-fiigti, witti tiands lifted up, and stood in ttiat 
posture ttiere, until ttie latter end of lent next following ; about which time, some 
of the English army marching in those parts, whereof her husband was one, (as fie 
and ttiey confidently affirmed to this deponent") saw that spirit or vision standing 
upright, and in the posture aforementioned ; but after that time, the said spirit or 
vision vanished, and appeared no more, that she knoweth. And she heard, but saw 
not, that there wrere other visions and apparitions, and much shrieking and strange 
noise heard in that river, at times afterward. Jurat. February 24, 1643." — Tem- 
ple, 121. 

" Elizabeth, the wife of captain Rice Price, of Armagh, deposeth and saith, That 
she, and other women, whose husbands were murdered, hearing of divers apparitions 
and visions which were seen near Portnedown bridge, since "the drowning of her 
children, and the rest of the Protestants there, went unto the bridge aforesaid, about 
twilight in the evening ; then and there, upon a sudden, appeared unto ttiem a 
vision or spirit, assuming tlie stiape of aivomam, waist-high, upright, in the water, 
naked, with elevated and closed hands, her hair hanging down, very white, her eyes 
seemed to twinkle, and her skin as white as snow, which spirit seemed to stand 
straight up, in the water, often repeating the word. Revenge ! Revenge ! Revenge ! 



322 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

whereat this deponent, and the rest, being put into a strange amazement and affright, 
walked from the place. Jurat. January 29, 1642." — Idem, 122. 

" James Shaw, of Market-Hill, in the county of Armagh, innkeeper, deposetfi, 
That many Irish rebels, in the time of this deponent's restraint and staying among 
them, told him very often, and that is ivas a common report, ihat all those that lived 
about the bridge of Portnedown, were so affrighted with the cries and noise made 
there, of some spirits or visions, for revenge, as that they durst not stay, but fled 
away thence, (so as they protested,) affrighted to Market-Hill, saying, they durst 
not stay nor return thither, for fear of those cries and spirits, but took grounds and 
made creates in or near the parish of. Mullabrack. Jurat. Aug. 14, 1G42." — 
Idem, 121. 

" Joan, the relict of Gabriel Constable, late of Drumard, in the County of Armagh, 
gentleman, deposeth and saith, That she has often heard the rebels, Owen O'Far- 
ren, Patrick O'Conellan, and divers others of the rebels at Drumard, earnestly say, 
protest, and tell each other, that the blood of some of those that where knocked 
in the heads, and afterwards drowned, at Portnedown bridge, still remained 
on the bridge, and would not be washed away ; and that often there appeared 
7'isions or apparitions, someti?nes of men, sometimes of -zvomen breast-liigh above 
the ivater, at or near Portnedown, which did most extremely and fearfully screech 
and cry out for vengeance against the Irish that had murdered their bodies there ; and 
that their cries and shrieks did so terrify the Irish thereahovits, that none durst stay 
nor live longer there, but fled and removed further into the country ; and this was 
a common report amongst the "rebels thei-e, and that it passed for a truth amongst 
them, for any thing she could ever observe to the contrary. Jurat. January I, 
UAZr—Ibid. 

Extract from the deposition of Robert Maxwell, dean, afterwards 
bishop of Kilmore : — 

" The deponent further saith. That the first three days and nights of this present 
rebellion, viz. October 23, 24, and 25, it was generally observed, that no cock creiv .' 
nor any dog tvas heard to bark ! no not -ivhen the rebels came in great miiUitudes 
unto the Protestants' houses by night to rob and murder them ! .' ! ! and about 
three or four nights before the six and fifty persons were taken out of the deponent's 
house and drowned, and amongst those the deponent's brother, lieutenant James 
Maxwell, in the dark of the moon, about one of the clock at night, a light teas 
observed, in manner of a long pillar, to shine for a long -way through the air, 
and refracted 7/fiOJt the north gable of the house.' ! It gave so great a light, 
about an hour together, that divers of the ti-alch read both letters and boolcs of a 
very small character thereby ! The former the deponent knowcth to be most true, 
both by his own experience, and the general observation of as many as the deponent 
met with in the county Armagh. The latter was seen by all those of the deponent's 
family, and besides by many of his Irish guard."* — Boulace, App. 136. 

" And further this deponent saith, That the rebels having exposed the murdered 
bodies of the British so long unto the public view and censure, that they began to 
stink and infect the air, which commonly (being a thing very strange) tvould not 
sometimes happen till four or five -weeks after the murders committed ! ! ! t they 
usually permitted some of their bodies to be removed, and cast into ditches." — 
/rfew, 138. 

" And the deponent further saith, that it was common table-talk amongst the 
rebels, that the ghosts of jUr. William Fullerton, Timothy Jephes, arid the most of 
those who were thrown over Portnedown bridge, wer.e daily and nightly seen to 
walk upon the river ! ! ! sometimes singing of psalms, sometimes hrundisliing 6f 
naked swords ! ! ! and sometimes screeching in tlie inost hideous and fearful 
manner ! ! ! The deponent did not believe the same at first ; and yet is doubtful 

* In strict propriety, it may be said, that this paragraph of the dean's deposition 
does not belong to this class — the impossibilities — although bordering on it. It is, 
at all events, almost miraculous ; and as the age of miracles is over, the classification 
cannot be very improper. If I have erred in this arrangement, it is hoped the reader 
will accept this apology. 



CHAPTER XXX. 323 

whether to believe it or not ; but saith that divers of the rebels assured him, that 
they themselves did dwell near to the said river, and being daily frighted with these 
apparitions (but especially with their liorrible screeching) were in conclusion forced 
to remove further into the country. Their oxvn piiests aiid friars could not deny 
the truth thereof ! ! ! but as oft as it was by deponent objected unto them, they 
said, that it was but a ciMining- sliglu of the devil to hinder this great -work of 
propagating- the catholic faith, and killing uf heretics.' ! ! or that it was 
wrought by witchcraft ! ! The deponent himself lived within thirteen miles of the 
bridge, and never heard any man so much as doubt of the truth thereof; how- 
soever the deponent obligeth no man's faith in regard he saw it not with his own 
eyes ; otherwise he liad as much certainty as morally could be required of such a 
matter ! ! ! " — Borlace, App. 136. 

In any other history than that of Ireland, any further evidence of 
the utter falsehood of the accusations would be wholly unnecssary. 
These miserable depositions respecting screaming ghosts, and persons 
hacked and cut without bleeding — and corpses lying for weeks exposed 
to the air in a moist and warm climate without putrefaction, would 
destroy all confidence in the residue of the story, which would be 
rejected as a mere fairy tale. The swearers would be regarded as 
perjurers — the judges who received the depositions as miscreants who 
ought to be hurled from the bench with disgrace and dishonour — and 
the historian as a cheat and impostor who would dare attempt to 
deceive the world by such fraudulent and extravagant fictions. But I 
once more repeat, the fate of the Irish history is like that of no other. 
After having torn the veil that shrouded one mass of falsehood from 
the public eye, and exposed it in all its naked deformity to general 
detestation, another mass of corruption presents itself; and from the 
delusion that prevails on this subject requires equal pains to expose it. 
I therefore now proceed to the second species of testimony adduced to 
prove the horrible cruelties charged upon the Irish ; I mean 

Hearsay Evidence. 

Dean Maxwell's deposition is a sort of history of the insurrection ; 
the abridgment of it fills twelve folio pages, which contain so many 
extravagant and impossible tales, that no man could swear to it but a 
perjurer. How many pages the whole contained, whether twenty, or 
fifty, or one hundred, it is impossible to decide ; it is "to be sought 
for in the archives of Dublin."* — Idem, 126. 

* Further extracts from the deposition of dean Robert Maxwell, sivorn to, 
August 22, 1642. 

" Deponent saith. That the rebels themselves told him, this deponent, that they 
murdered nine hundred fifty-four in one morning, in the county of Antrim ! ! ! and 
that, beside them, they supposed they killed above eleven or twelve hundred more in 
that county ! ! ! they told him likewise, that Colonel Brian O'Neil killed about a 
thousand in the county of Down ! ! ! besides three hundred killed near Killeleigh, 
and many hundreds, both before and after, in both those counties ! ! !" — Temple, 113. 
BoRLACE, App'. 135. 

" That he heard sir Phelim likewise repvrt, that he killed six hundred English at 
Garvagh, in the county of Derry ! and that he had left neither man, woman nor 
child alive in the barony of Munterlongy, in the county of Tyrone, and betwixt 
Armagh and the Newry, in the several plantations and lands of sir Archibald Atche- 
son, John Hamilton, Esq. the lord Caulfield, and the lord Mountnorris : and saith 



324 VINDICLE HIBP^RNIO.E. 

The extracts from the dean's deposition in the preceding pages, 
on the subject of the screaming ghosts, might suffice to enable the 

— .►►►^ @i^"— 

also, that there were above two thousand of the British ftiurdered for the most part 
ill their own houses, lohereof he was infurmed by a Scotchman ! ! ! ! who was in 
those parts with sir Phelini, and saw their houses filled with their dead bodies. In 
the Glenwood, towards Dromore, there were slaughtered, as the rebels told the depo- 
nent, upivards of twelve thousand* in all ! ! ! who were all killed in their flight 
to the county of Down. The numbers of the people drowned at the bridge of Port- 
nedown are diversely reported, according as men staid amongst the rebels. This 
deponent, who staid as long as any, and hud better intelligence than most of the 
English amongst them, and had best reason to know the truth, saith. There were 
{Ijij their own report) one hundred and ninety drowned with Mr. Fullerton I ! at 
another time, they threw one hundred and forty over the said bridge ! ! at another 
time, thirty-six or thirty-seven ; and so continued drowning more or fewer, for seven 
or eight weeks, so as the fexvest which can be supposed there to have perished, 
must needs have been above one thousand ! ! ! besides as many more drowned be- 
tween that bridge and the great lough of Montjoy, besides those that perished by 
the sword, fire, and famine, in Coubrassil, and the English plantations adjacent; 
which, in regard there escaped not three hundred out of all these quarters, must needs 
amount to many thousands ! ! !" — Templk, 113. 

" And further saith,* that he knew one boy, that dwelt near unto himself, and not 
exceeding fuurteen years of age, who killed at Kinnard in one night, fifteen able 
strong men with his stcein, they being disarmed, and inost of their feet in the 
stocks .'.'.' Another, not above twelve years of age, hilled two women and one man, 
at the siege of Augher ! A woman, tenant to the deponent, killed seven 7nen and 
women of her English fellow tenants in one morning ! .' and, it was very usual, in 
all parts, for their children to murder the- Protestants^ childre?i .'.' and sometimes, 
with lath swords heavy and well sharpened, they would venture upon men and 
women of riper years, cruelties not to be believed, if there were not so many eye- 
witnesses of them." — BoRLACE, App. 136. 

" And further saith, that it was credibly told him, that the rebels, least they should 
hereafter be charged with more murders than they had committed .'.'.' .' command- 
ed their priests to bring in a true account of them ; and that the persons so slaugh- 
tered, whether in Ulster, or the whole kingdom, the deponent ditrst 7iot inquire, in 
March last, amounted unto one hundred fifty-four thousand! ! ! !" — Idem, 132. 

"He might add to these many thousands more! I but the diary which he, the 
deponent, wrote among the rebels, being burned with his house, books,. and all his 
papers, he referreth himself to the number in gross, which the rebels themselves 
have upon inquiry found out and acknowledged ! which notwithstanding will come 
short of all that have been imirdered in Ireland, there being above one hundred 
fifty and four thousand now wanting of the British within the very precinct of 
'Ulster!! V'—Idem, 135. 

" And further saith. That the rebels would send their children abroad in great 
troops, and especially near unto Kinnard, armed with long wattles and whips, who 
would therewith beat dead men's bodies about their privy members, until they beat 
or rather thrashed them off; then would return in great joy to their parents, who 
received them for such service as it were in triumph ! !" — Temple, 113. 

" Further, this deponent saith. That it was usual sport with one Mac-Mahon, 
captain of the castle and town of Monaghan, (as the said JMac-JVIahoii confess- 
ed before Mr. Hugh Echline and many others,) to take a wooden prick or broach, 
and thrust it up into the fundament of an English or Scotchman ! ! ! and then after 
drive him about the room with a joint stool!!! until, through extreme pain, he 
either fainted, or gave content to the spectators by some notable skips and frisks ; 
which rare invention he offered to put in practice at the same time and in the same 
place where he boasted thereof! ! but that the said Mr. Ecline prevailed with him 
to omit it, as sufliciently (without any further demonstration) believing the excel- 
lency of the sport." — BonLACE, App. 138. 

* Borlace makes the number oiilv 1200. 



CHAPTER XXX. 325 

reader to appreciate the merits of this most reverend gentleman, and 
the credit due to his testimony. Sliould any doubts remain on the 
subject, the annexed particulars will fully and finally remove them for 
ever. 

The dean swears, with great gravity, that " there were upwards of 
12,000 slain in the Glenwood, as the rebels told this deponent P'' 
there were " 954 murdered in one morning, as the rebels themselves 
told him ;" there were moreover, " above 2,000 murdered in their 
own howses, as he was informed by a Scotsman ;^'' and sir Fhelim 
O'Neil had " left neither man, woman, nor child alive, from Armagh 
to Newry, as he heard sir Fhelim himself report.''^ 

On the dean's authority rests the hacknied assertion, that the pre- 
cise number of one hundred and fifty-four thousand were massacred, 
in four montlis, in Ulster; and yet, wonderful to tell, there is in this 
very deposition, on the all-important topic of the '■'■hundred and fifty - 
four thousand persons slaughtered," a most palpable arul overwhelm- 
ing contradiction, which at once destroys its credibiliiy. In one part 
of it, the dean swears that " it was credibly told him, that the persons 
slaughtered amounted to one hundred and fifty-four tliousand, whether 
in Ulster or the ivhole kingdom, he durst not inquire." Why he 
durst not inquire, is not stated ; and it is impossible to assign any 
reason : — the story carries absordit}^ on its face; the one kind of infor- 
mation was as readily and as soon acquired as the other. In a subse- 
quent page, he swears positively, that " there ivere then above one, 
hundred and fifty four thousand wanting- in the province of Ulster 
alone.'''' This discordance, which would destroy the evidence, in any 
honourable court in Christendom, of a Washington, a Franklin, a Fay- 
ette, a Sheridan, a Brougham, or a Wyndham, was of no importance 
in the era of perjury, anno 1042, when flie lives and fortunes of the 
Irish were at stake, and when princely fortunes were the reward of 
the perjurer and his employer. 

A petition of " the divines of the assembly," delivered to parlia- 
ment, July 19, 1643, -contains the following extraordinary and ex- 
travagant declaration, which the petitioners must have known to be 
utterly destitute of even the shadow of foundation. It is grounded 
on, and nearly verbatim with, the hearsay deposition of the dean Max- 
well: 

"In this rebellion, so barbarous and bloody, 154,000 Protestants, men, ■women, 
and cidldren, ScotcJi and Engllsli, rvere massacred in ttiat Icing-dwn, between Oct. 
23, -wlien tlie rebellion brolce fortli, and tfie 1st Marcti fullo-iviiig- .' / by the compu- 
tation of the priests themselves ! ! who were present, and principal actors in all those 
tragedies, and tvere directed by some cliief rebels of Ireland to take tliis computa- 
tion, lest tliey stiould be reported to be more bloodij ilian in truth, tliere was cause ! ! 
All which appears by the examination of archdeacon Mdxwell, wlio lived a long 
, time a prisoner witli sir Pfielim OWeil's mother, and -was tliere wlien tliis com- 
putation was brongfit in." — Kushworth, V. 355. 

To give currency to this wretched, absurd, and notorious imposture, 
the English House of Commons, with an utter disregard of truth and 
character, ordered it to be read by the ministers of every parish within 
the kingdom, in their several churches and chapels: 

July 25, 1643. " It is this day ordered by the House Commons, lliat the minis- 
ters of every parish within the kingdom shall read this declaration in their several 

40 



326 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 

churches and chapels, on the next fast-day after the same shall come to their hands, 
after the endixig of the first sermon, and before the beginning of the next." — 
Idem, 356. 

Thus making the temples of the Living God the instruments of 
poisoning the minds of his worshippers, by the propagation of flagrant 
falsehood. 

Next to dean Maxwell's deposition for extent, is that of a certain 
Anthony Stratford, who enters into minute details of events, not one 
of which he says he saw. The insurrection began on the 23d of Oc- 
tober, 1641, and his deposition was taken on the 9th of March, 1643; 
that is, above sixteen months from the time when it commenced. By 
his own account, he was for fourteen months a prisoner 1 1* He does 

—•»►»« ©»<«•— 

* " Captain Anthony Stratford deposeth, and saith, that 

" These Protestant ministers following, about the beginning of the present rebel- 
lion, were murdered in the counties of Tyrone and Armagh, viz. Mr. John Matthew, 
Mr. Blythe, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Smith, Mr. Darragh, Mr. IBirge, and eight more, 
whose names this deponent hath forgotten, by the rebels, none of which would the 
rebels permit to be buried ; the rtames of such as murdered, this examinant knoweth 
not; his cause of knowledge of the said murders is, that some of his, this depo- 
nent's servants, who were among the rebels, did give him the relation!!!! and he 
verily believetli tliem !!!! and besides, this deponent heard the same confessed and 
averred by many of the rebels themselves, and by some of those Protestants that 
had escaped: and that he this deponent was a prisoner among the rebels, at Castle- 
cauficld, near the place of those murders, where he continued fourteen months ! 
And further saith, that in Dungannon, in the county of Tyrone, or near thereunto, 
the rebels murdered three hundred and sixteen Protestants ! ! and between Charle- 
mont and Dungannon, above four hundred ! ! that there were murdered and drowned 
at and in the river Benburb, by the Black water, between the counties of Armagh and 
Tyrone, two hundred and six Protestants ; and Patrick MacGrew, of Dungannon, 
aforesaid, murdered thirty-one in one morning ; and two young rebels, John Beg- 
brian and Harry, murdered in the said county of Tyrone, one hundred and forty 
poor xuomen and children that could make no resistance ! ! ! and that the wife of 
B-rien Kelly of Loghall, in the county of Armagh, (one of the rebels' captains,) did 
■with her oivn hands murder forty-five ! ! ! And deponent further saith, that one 
Thomas King, sometime sergeant to the late lord Caufield's company, (which this 
deponent commanded) he being forced to serve under the rebels, and was one of the 
provost marshals, gave the deponent a list of every householder's name so murdered, 
and the number of persons so murdered ; w/tich list iliis deponent durst not keep ! !! 
At Portnedown there were drowned at several times about three hundred and eight, 
who were sent away by about forty or such like numbers, at once, with convoys, 
and there drowned-: There was a lough near Loghall aforesaid, where were drown- 
ed above two hundred, of tvhich ttiis deponent -was informed by several persoiu !!! 
and particularly by the wife of doctor Hodges, and two of her sons, who were 
present and designed for the like end : but by God's met'cy, that gave them favour 
in the eyes of some of the rebels, they escaped; and the said Mrs. Hodges and her 
sons gave the deponent a list of the names of many of those that were so drowned, 
which the deponent durst not keep!! 

" At a mill pond in the parish of Kilamen, in the county of Tyrone, there were 
drowned in one day three hundred ! ! and in the same parish there were murdered 
of English and Scottish twelve hundred, as this deponeiit was informed by JMr. 
Sirge, the late minister of the said parish !!!!* who certified the same under his 

• The wonderful density ol the popidation of this parish, where fifteen hundred per- 
sons were murdered, niiglit excite iloiibts, but for the circumstance, that this important 
fact was " Jircertifed by r. Birge under his own hand!!!'''' It is much to be regretted 
that tlie deponent " durst not keep " this valuable document, which was worthy of 
being preserved in the archives of Ireland. 



CHAPTER XXX. 327 

not state when he was first confined ; but we will suppose one month 
after the first date, and that he was released one month before the 
second. Yet he swears positively to various circumstances, which as 

hand, -which nole the deponent durst not keep!.' tho said Mr. Birge was murdered 
three months after : all which murders were in the first breaking out of the rebel- 
lion, but the particular times this deponent cannot remember, neither the persons by 
whom they were committed. This deponent lucts credibly informed by the said 
sergeant and others of t/iis deJ>one?it's servants, (who kept company with the 
rebels,) and saw the same, that many young children were cut into quarters and 
gobbets by the rebels; and that eighteen Scottish infants were hanged on a clothier's 
tenterhook; and that they murdered a young fat Scottish man, and made candles of 
his grease //.' they took another Scottish niTln and ripped up his belly, that they 
might come to his small guts, the one end whereof they tied to a tree, and made him 
go round, until he had drawn them all out of his body ; tliey then saying, that they 
■would try -whether a do^'s or a Scotchman's guts -were the longer.' .' 

"ANTHONY STRATFORD. 

" Deposed, March 9, 1643, before "us, 
" Henhy Joxks, 
" Henht Breretox." — Temple, 110. 

"Dame Butler being duly sworn, deposeth that she was credibly informed by 
Dorothy Renals ! ! who had been several times an eye witness of these lamentable 
spectacles, that she had seen to the number of five and thirty English going to 
execution : and that she had seen them when they were executed, their bodies ex- 
posed to devouring ravens, and not aflbrdcd so much as burial. 

" And this deponent saith, That sir Edtuard Bitiler did credibly inform her, 
that James Butler, of Finyhinch, had hanged and put to death, all the English that 
tcere at Goran and JFells, and all thereabouts ! .' ! 

" Jane Jones, servant to the deponent, did see the English formerly specified goin-g 
to tlieir execution ; and, as she conceived, they were about the number of thirty-five ; 
and -was told by Elizabeth Home ! that there were forty gone to execution. Jurat. 
Sept. ] 642."— 7f/ew, 116. 

"Thomas Fleetwood, late curate of Kilbeggan, in tho county of Westmcath, de- 
poseth. That, he hath hexird from the mouths of the rebels themselves of great cruel- 
ties acted by them! And, for one instance, that they stabbed the mother, one Jane 
Addis by name, and left her little sucking child, not a quarter old, by the corpse, 
and then they put the breast of its dead mother into its mouth, and bid it ' suck, 
English bastard ;' and so left it there to perish. Jurat. March 22, 1642." — Idem, 90. 

" Richard Bourk, bachelor in divinity, of the county of Fermanaugh, deposeth, 
That he heard, and verily believeth ; the burning and killing of one hundred, at 
least, in the castle of Tullah ! ! ! and that the same was done after fair quarter 
promised. Jurat. July 12, 164.3." — Idem, 84. 

" William Parkinson, of Castle-Cumber, in the county Kilkenny, gent, deposeth, 
That by the credible report, both of English and some Irish .' ! who afiirmcd they 
were eye witnesses of a bloody murder committed near Kilfeal, in the Queen's 
county, upon an Englishman, his wife, four or five children, and a maid, all which 
were hanged, by the command of sir Morgan Cavanagh and Robert Harpool, and 
afterwards put all in one hole ; the youngest child being not fully dead, put out the 
hand, and cried Mammy, mammy ; when without mercy they buried him alive." 
Jurat. February 11, 1642."— W«n, 87. 

" Owen Frankland, of tho city of Dublin, deposeth. That Jilichxl Garray told 
this deponent ! .' that there was a Scotchman, who being driven by the rebels out 
of Newry, and knocked on the head by the Irish, recovered himself, and came again 
into the town naked ; whereupon tho rebels carried him and his wife out of the town, 
cut him all to pieces, and with a skein ripped his wife's belly, so as a child dropped 
out of her womb. Jurat. July 23, 1642." — Idem, 89. 

" Alexander Creighton, of Glaslough, in the county of Monaghan, gent, deposeth, 
That he heard if credibly reported among the rebels at Glaslough, aforesaid ! ! that 
Hugh Mac O'Degan, a priest, had done a most meritorious act, in drawing betwixt 



J28 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 



lie pretends, occurred, in different paits of the province, during his 
imprisonment, with as much confidence as if he had been an eye-witness 
of the whole; and so shameless was the villain, so profligate were the 



—•►♦0 ©©«<•— 



forty and fifty English and Scotch, in the parish of Gonally, in the county of Fer- 
managh, to reconciliation with the church of Rome ; and, after giving them the 
sacrament, demanded of them whether Christ's body was really in the sacrament or 
no ! and they said, Yea. And that he demanded further, Whether they held the 
pope to be supreme head of the church"? They likev/ise answered, He was. And 
that thereupon he presently told them, They were in good faith, and for fear they 
should fall from it, and turn heretics, he and the rest that were with him, cut jfll 
their throats. Jurat. March 1, 1G41." — Idem, 100. 

" Richard Bourkc, bachelor of divinity, dcposeth, that heivas inforined, that Mr. 
Lodge, archdeacon of Killalow, bcin^ buried about six years since, and divers others 
ministers' bones, were digged out of their graves as patrons of heresy, by direction 
of the titular bishop of Killalow. Jurat. July 12, 1643." — Idem, 95. 

" James, of Hacketstown, in the county of Catherlogh, deposeth. That an Irish 
gentleman told In 111 n» J oiAecs, that he had turned an Englishwoman away, who 
was his servant, and had a child ; and that before the poor woman and child had 
gone half a mile, divers Irish women slew them with- stones. Jurat. April 21, 1643." 
—Idem, 93. 

" John Clerk, of Knockback, gentleman, deposeth, That lie heard credibly from 
JMr. Lightbourne, minister of the Naas, that the rebels shot a parish clerk, near 
Kildare, through his thighs, and afterwards digged a deep hole in the ground, where- 
in they set him upright on his feet, and filled up the whole in the earth, leaving out 
only his head, in which state they left the poor wounded nian,till he pined, languish- 
ed, and so died. Jurat. October 24, 1G43."— /6/r/. 

" Kathcrine, the relict of William Co"ke, of the county of Armagh, deposeth. That 
many of her neighbours, who had been prisoners among the rebels, said and af- 
firmed ! ! that divers of the rebels 'would cojifess, brag and boasl ! ! how they 
took an English Protestant, one .Robert Wilkinson, at Kilmore, and held his feet in 
the fire until they burned him to death. Jurat. February 24, 1643." — Ibid. 

" Dennis Kelley, of the county of Meath, deposeth. That Garret Tallon, of 
Cruistown, in the said county, gentleman, as is commonly reported J ! hired two 
men to kill Anne Hagely, wife to Edward Tallon, his son, a Papist, and at that 
time absent from home ; and the said two men did, in a most bloody manner, with 
skeins, kill the saiJ Anne Hagely, and her daughter, and her daughter's two chil- 
dren, because they would not consent to go to mass. Jurat. August 23. 1643."— 
Idein, 92. 

" Joseph Wheeler, of Stancarty, in the county of Kilkenny, Esq. ; Elizabeth, the 
relict of William Gilbert, and others, sworn and examined, depose and say, Ttiat 
they have credibly lieard and believed f ! that Florence Fitz-Patrick having enticed 
a rich merchant of Mountwrath to his the said Fitz-Patrick's house, to bring thither 
his goods, which he promised should be sai'ely protected and safely re-delivered: he 
the said Florence Fitz-Patrick possessing those goods, afterwards caused the said 
merchant and his wife to be hanged ; and they tiave credibly heard, that the said 
Florence Fitz-Patrick also hanged lieutenant Keiss and his son, one Hughes, a 
Bchool-master, and divers other Protestants."— /Jem, 117. 

"Jane, the wife of Thomas Stewart, deposeth and saith; All the men, women, 
and children of the British that then could be found within the town of Shgo 
(saving this deponent, -who -was so t/ic/c that she could not stir ! ! /) were sum- 
moned to go into the gaol, and as manyas could be met with, all were caiTied and 
put into the gaol, where, about twelve o'clock in the night, they were stripped stark 
naked, and after most of them were most cruelly and barbarously mui-dered with 
swords, axes and skeins : and saith that above^thirty of the British which were so put 
into the gaol, were then and there murdered : besides Robert Gumble, then provost 
of the said town of Sligo, Edward Ncwsham, and Edward Mercer, who were wounded 
and left for dead amongst the rest, and Joe Stewart, this deponent's son, which four 
being next day found alive, yet all besmeared with blood, were spared to live. .'Ill 
yvtiich piirtictilars the deponent ivas credibly told by those that escaped ! ! ! ! ! ! 



CHAPTER XXX. . 329 

wretched magistrates who took his deposition, so abandoned was the 
spirit of the age, that, without scruple, he avowed his perjury, by 
stating the sources of his information, whicli were as various as the 

— »»e®9+w— 

and by her Irish servants and others of the loxun ! ! and saith, that some of the 
women so murdered being big with child (by their wounds received) the very arms 
and legs of the children in their wombs appeared, and were thrust out ; and one 
woman, viz. Isabel Beard, being in the house of the friars, and hearing the lamenta- 
ble cry that was made, ran into the street, and was pursued by one of the friar's men 
unto the river, where she was barbarously murdered, and found the next day, with 
the child's feet appearing, and thrust out of the wounds in her side : and further 
saith, that on the said sixth day of January, there were murdered in the streets of 
the town of Sligo, these British Protestants following, viz. William Shiels and John 
Shiels his son, William Mapwell and Robert Akin : and the deponent further saith, 
{cis she -was credibly informed by the persoris before named ! ! ! /) that the inhuman 
rebels, after their murders committed in the said gaol, laid and placed some of the dead 
bodies of the naked murdered men upon the naked bodies of the women, in a most 
immodest posture, not fit for chaste ears to hear ! in which posture they continued to be 
seen the next morning by those Irish of the town that came into the said gaol, who 
were delighted and rejoiced in those bloody murders and uncivil actions ! and that 
they of the Irish, that came to bury them, stood up to the mid-leff in the blood and 
brains of those that were so murdered! ! ! ! ! who were carried out, and cast into a 
pit digged for that purpose, in the garden of Mr. Ricrofts, minister of Sligo." — 
Idem, 108. 

" John Birne, late of Dungannon, in the county of Tyrone, deposeth, That he 
heard some of the native Irish ! ! that were somewhat more merciful than the rest, 
complain that two young cow-boys, within the parish of Tullah, had at several 
times murdered and drowned thirty-six women and children! ! Jurat. January 12, 
1643."— /f/em, 97. • 

" William Lucas, of the city of Kilkenny, deposeth. That although he lived in 
the town, till about five or six weeks past, in which time he is assured ! divers mur- 
ders and cruel acts were committed, ?/et he durst not go abroad to see any of them ! ! ! 
but he doth covfidently believe ! ! ! that the rebels having brought seven Protes- 
tants' heads, whereof one was the head of Mr. Bingham, a minister, they did then 
and there, as triumphs of their victories, set them upon the market-cross, on a market 
day ; and that the rebels slashed, stabbed, and mangled those heads ! put a gag, or 
carrot, in the said Mr. Bingham's mouth ; slit up his cheeks to his ears ! ! laying a 
leaf of a Bible before him, and bid him preach, for his mouth was wide enough ; and 
after they had so solaced themselves, threw those heads into a hole, in St. James's 
Green. Jurat. August 16, 1643." — Ibid. 

" Christian Stanhaw, the relict of Henry Stanhaw, late of the county of Armagh, 
Esquire, deposeth, that a woman that formerly lived near Laugale, absolutely in- 
formed tJds deponent ! ! .' that the rebels enforced a great number of Protestants, 
men, women, and children, into a house which they set on fire, purposely to burn 
them ; as they did ; and still as any of them offered to come out, to shun the fire, 
the wicked rebels, with scythes, which they had in their hands, cut them in pieces, 
and cast them into the fire, and burned them with the rest. Jurat. July 23, 1642." 
— Idem, 94. 

" John Montgomery, of the county of Monaghan, sworn and examined, saith. 
That Jie ivas credibly informed ! ! ! that the daughter-in-law of one Foard, in the 
parish of Clownish, being delivered of a child in the fields, the rebels who had 
formerly killed her husband and father, killed her and two of her children, and suf- 
fered the dogs to eat up and devour her new-born child ! Jurat. June 26, 1642." — 
Idem, 89. 

" John Stubs, of the county of Longford, gentleman, deposeth, That he heard, 
by some of the sheriff^ s men ! ! ! ! that Henry Mead and his wife, John Bigel, 
William Stell, and Daniel Stubs, the deponent's brother, were put to death by 
Lysach Farrol's and Oli Fitzgerald's men, who hanged them upon a windmill, and 



330 - VINDICIiE HIBERNICJ^:. 

different items of his testimony. In one case, ^^ some of his servants, 
tvho were among the rebels, did give him the information;'^ in an- 
other " Thomas King did give him a list of the householders so 
murdered;'' iu another " the wife of Dr. Hodges, and her two sons 
gave him a list ;" in another the murder of liftecn hundred in one 
parish is " certified by Mr. Birge under his own hand;" and in this 
manner, he proceeds throughout the whole deposition. 

I now close the second class of the testimony, on which the 
wretched legend of the Irish massacre rests. I trust the reader will 
agree that it fully realizes Warner's description, and is nothing more 
than a collection oi '' idle, silly tales," of '' wlmt this body heard an- 
other body say." [Warner, 146.] One man swears, that he ^^ heard, 
and verily believeth;" another, that he "■heard it credibly reported 
among the rebels themselves ;" a third, that "on Irish gentleman told 
him and others;" a fourth, that " he wasinformed;" and a fifth, that " a 
woman absolutely informed this deponent ;" and similar ribald non- 
sense, to which nothing but the spirit of fraud, falsehood, perjury, and 
rapine, that predominated among the rulers of Ireland at that period, 
could have given currency ; and which would not, at present, be ad- 
mitted as evidence, by the mast paltry, pettifogging justice of the 
peace, against the lowest wretch in the community. 

Is there a man, not lost to every sense of honour and justice, who 
can read this account without horror, amazement, indignation, and 
regret? horror at the atrocious wickedness of the host of perjurers, 

when they were half dead, they cut them to pieces with their skeins. Jurat. Nov. 
21, \M\r—Tdem, 90. 

" Charity Chappel, late wife of Richard Chappel, esquire, of the town and coun- 
ty of Armagh, dcposeth, That, as she liath crcilibhj heard, the rebels murdered 
great numbers of Protestants, and that many children were seen lying murdered in 
vaults and cellars, whither they had lied to hide themselves. Jurat. July 2, 1642." 
—Idem, 90. 

Extract Jrotn the. deposition of John Carmich. 

" Twenty-two castles were seized upon, and the Church of Monah, with eighteen 
Protestants, burnt in it : seven hundred and sixty-four Protestants were destroyed in 
that county ; and / did hear that there ivere abovt 152,000 that they liad destroy- 
ed in that province of Ulster, in the first four months of tJie rebellion. 

JOHN CARMICK."* 

" Arthur Culm, of Cloughwater, in the county of Cavan, esquire, dcposeth. That 
he was credibly informed, by some that were present there, that there were thirty 
women and young children, and seven men, flung into the river of Belturbert; and 
when some of them ollcrcd to swim for their lives, they were by the rebels, followed 
in cots, and knocked on the head with poles: the same day they hanged two wo- 
men at Turbert; and this deponent doth verily believe, that Mnlmore O'Rely, the 
then shcriir, had a hand in the commanding the murder of those said persons, for 
that he saw him write two notes ! which he sent to Turbert by Brien O'Rely, upon 
whose coming these murders were committed : and those persons who were present 
also affirmed, that the bodies of those thirty persons droxvned did not appear upon 
the water till about six weeks after, past ; as the said O^ Rely came to ttie town, 
all tfie bodies came f outing itp to the very bridge ,- those persons were all formerly 
stayed in the town by his protection, when the rest of their neighbors in the town 
went away." — Idem, 122. 

*Ti-ial ofMaguii-e, 22.?. 



CHAPTER XXX. 33 1 

who were thus made the instruments to plunder the property and sacri- 
fice the lives of the ill-fated Irish ; amazement at the Boeotian and 
superlative stupidity of those who committed themselves by perjuries 
open to the detection of the most supertioial observer ; indignation at 
the base imposture, or gross neglect, which has led so many subse- 
quent writers, particularly Hume, to poison the pure streams of his- 
tory, by recourse to such a pestilential source as this vile, this ribald 
story; and profound regret, if he have hitherto, as is most probable, 
been deluded into a belief in one of the most wicked, base, and un- 
founded romances ever palmed on a deceived world, in the shape of 
history ? 

Third class of depositions. 

I now proceed to a cursory examination of the third class of depo- 
sitions, which, though not resting on hearsay, or not absolutely impos- 
sible, are yet so utterly improbable, as to be unworthy of belief. 

One of the witnesses swears, that she and her six children had no- 
thing to cat for three weeks, while they lay in a cave, but two old 
calfskins, which they beat with stones, and ate them hair and all !* 

Another, seventy-five years old, swears that she was stripped seven 
times in one day, by the rebels, as she was proceeding to Dublin ;t 
She gives no account how she replaced the clothes of which she was 
seven times plundered. 

Another swears, that all the nobles in the kingdom, that were Pa- 
pists, had a hand in the plot.\ It is too obvious to require illustration, 
that even if this were a fact, it was impossible for any man to be so 
well assured of it, as to be able safely to take this sweeping oath. 
But, setting this consideration wholly aside, the perjury is proved by 
the simple fact, that the earl of Clanrickarde, and other Catholic noble- 
men, were not only wholly unconcerned in the insurrection, but abso* 
lutely fought against their countrymen. 

Another swears, that two and twenty widows were stripped stark 
naked, and driven out into the woods, where they remained in that 

• " Mary Barlow deposeth, That her husband being by the rebels hanged before 
her face, she and six children were stripped stark naked, and turned out a begging 
in the frost and snow, by means whereof they were almost starved, havmg riothmg 
to eat in three -weeks, -while they lay in a cave, but trvo old calf ski?ts, ivhich they 
beat -with stones, and so eat them hair and all, her children crying out unto her, 
rather to go out, and be killed by the rebels, than to starve there." — Temple, 90. 

I " Margaret Fermeny, in the county of Fermanagh, deposeth, That the rebels 
bound her and her husband's hands behind them, to make them confess their money, 
and dragged them up and down in a rope, and cut his throat in her own sight with 
a skein, having first knocked him down and stripped him ; and that being an aged 
woman, seventy-five years old, as she came up afterwards to Dublin, she was stripped 
by the Irish seven times in one day.'" — Idem, 88. 

+ " Patrick O'Brien, of the parish of Galloom, in the county of Fermanagh, af- 
firmeth, upon oath, That all the nobles in the ki7igdom, that -ivere Papists, had a 
hand in this plot, as well as the lord Macguirc, Hugh Oge, and Mac-Mahowri : that 
they expected aid out of Spain, by Owen Roe O'Neal ; and that colonel Plunket, 
one of those that was to be an actor in the surprise of the castle of Dublin, told him 
that he knew of this plot eight years since ; and that within these three years, he 
hath been more fully acquainted with it." — Idem, 6 1 . 



332 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 

confWtion from 7\iesday till Saturday, and " the snow umnelted lay 
long on so7ne of their skins J''^* 

It were endless to recapitulate the miserable tales with which Tem- 
ple's history is filled: they are as nauseating by their absurdity, as 
shocking by their falsehood. A few more shall close the subject. 

'I'liis writer very gravely informs us, that the day previous to the 
breaking out of the rebellion, the priests in many places " gave the 
people a dismiss at mass, with the liberty to go and take possession of 
the Englishmen's lands, and to strip, rob, and despoil them of all their 
goods and cattle ;"t 

That the Irish Avere determined, as soon as they had rooted out the 
English from Ireland, to " go to England, and not to leave the memo- 
rial of the English name under heaven !"± 

That the Irish killed English cows and sheep, merely because they 
were English ;§ 



* " Magdalen Redman, late of the Dowris, in King's county, widow, being sworn 
and examined, deposeth and saith, that she this deponent, and divers other Pro- 
testants her neighbours, and amongst the rest twenty-two widows, after they were 
all robbed, were also stripped, stark naked, and then covering themselves in a house 
with straw, the rebels then and there lighted the straw with fire, and threw amongst 
them, on purpose to burn them ; where they had been burned or smothered, but 
that some of the rebels more pitiful than the rest, commanded these cruel rebels to 
forbear, so as they escaped : yet the rebels kept and drove them na/ced into the 
■wild woods, from Tuesday tiniil Saturday, in frost and snow, so as the snow un- 
melted, lay long- upon some of tlieir skins .'/.' and some of their children died in their 
arms." — Idem, 81. 

j- " Whereas the priests did long before, in their public devotions a*; mass, pray 
for a blessing upon a great design they had then in hand : so now, as I have heard, 
they did in many places, tlie very day before the brealcing out of this rebellion, 
give the people a dismiss at mass, with free liberty to go out, and take possession 
of all their lands, which they pretended were unjustly detained from them by the 
English ; as also to strip, rob, and despoil them of all their goods and cattle." — 
Idem, 79. 

Sir Charles Cuote's Testimony concerning the generality of the BehelUon. 

" Sir Phelim O'Neile and Roger Moore w ere the actors in the massacres ; and by 
public directions of some in place, and of the titulary bishops, for sending an exact 
account of what persons had been murdered throughout all Ulster, a fourth part of 
the kingdom of Ireland, to the parish priests of every parish ; and they sent in a 
particular account of it, and the account was one liundred and four tliousand seven 
hundred in one province, in the first three months of the rebellion !" — Trial of lord 
JMacguire, 227. 

:|: " The friars exhorted the people with tears, to spare none of the English ; that 
the Irish were resolved to destroy them out of the kingdom ; that they would de- 
vour, as their very word was, the seed of the English out of Ireland ; and that when 
they had rid them there, tliey would go over into England, and not leave tlie me- 
morial of the English name under lieaven ! ! !" — Temple, 78. 

§ " The Irish in many places tcilled Englisli cows and sheep, merely because 
they were English ; in some places tliey cut off ttuir legs, or took a piece out of 
their buttocks, and so let them remain still alive." — Idem, 77. 

" At the siege of Augher, they would not kill any English beast, and then eat it; 
but they cut collops out of them, being alive ; letting tliem roar tilt they liad no 
morefesh upon their backs, so that sometimes a beast would live two or three days 
together in that torment." — Borlack. 

It is remarkable that this absurd story is copied by Carte, Leland, Warner, Hume, 
and other writers. War always produces scarcity — and especially a war carried on 



CHAPTER XXX. 333 

That some of those that fled from Ireland, to seek refuge in England, 
were so tossed about by storms, that they could not reach any port in 
the latter island in three months ;* 

That the Irish intended to have penalties imposed on- those who 
should speak English ;t 

That they would not leave an English man or woman alive in the 
kingdom ; no not so much as an English beast, or any of the breed of 
them ;| 

That in the beginning of the insurrection, the English had such con- 
fidence in the Irish, that they delivered their goods to them for safe 
keeping, and even dug up such of their best things as they had hidden 
under ground to deposit in their custody ! !§ 

That many thousands died in two days, in the town of Colerain ; a 
place not containing, probably, three hundred people ;|| 

That children were compelled to be the executioners of their parents ! ! 
wives to help to hang their husbands ! ! and mothers to cast their chil- 
dren into the water ! ! 1"^ 

That the destruction of the Christians, in any of the heathen per-^ 

with such remorseless rage as fhe government generally displayed. To suppose that 
the Irish were such idiots, as to destroy their means of subsistence in this manner, 
to be revenged of the EngUsh, requires a degree of cullibihty that would qualify its 
possessor for a seat among the wise men of Gotham. 

* " That which heightened the calamity of the poor English was their flight in 
the winter, in such a dismal, stormy, tempestuous season, as in the memory of man 
had never been observed formerly to continue so long together. Yet the terror of 
the rebels incomparably prevailing beyond the rage of the sea, most of those who 
could provide themselves of shipping, though at never so excessive rates, deserted 
the city : and such was the violence of the winds, such continuing impetuous storms, 
as several barques were cast away. Some i7i three montlis after tlieir going from 
hence, could recover 710 port in England!" — Temple, 57. 

■}• " Some of the Irish would not endure the very sound of that language, but 
would have penalties inflicted on them that spake English." — Idem, 77. 

% " Richard Claybrook deposeth, That he heard Luke Toole say, that they would 
not leave an Englishman or English woman in the kingdom; that they ivould not 
leave an Englisti beast alive, or any of t lie breed of tliem." — Temple, 96. 

§ " So confident were the English of their good dealing at first, as many delivered 
their goods by retail unto them ; gave them particular inventories of all they had ; 
nay, digged up such of their best things as they had hidden under ground, to deposit 
in their custody." — Idem, 80. 

H " James Redfern deposeth. That in the town of Colerain, since the rebellion 
began, there died of robbed and stripped people, that fled thither for succour, many 
hundreds, besides those of the town that anciently dwelt there : and that the mor- 
tality there was such and so great, as many thousands died there in two days." — 
Idem, 81. 

1 " Children were enforced to carry their aged parents to the places designed for 
their slaughter ; nay, some children compelled most unnaturally to be the execu- 
tioners of their own parents ; wives to help to hang their husbands ; and mothers to 
cast their own children into the water."' — Idem, 91. 

"Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Green, in the parish of Dumcres, in the county 
Armagh, sworn and examined, saith. That sfie is verily persuaded tlint the rebels, 
at several times and places ivitliin the county of .^irmagti, drowned above four 
thousand Protestants, enforcing tlie sons and daughters of tliose very aged peo- 
ple, who were not able to go themselves, to take them out of their beds and houses, 
and carry them to drowning, especially in the river of Toll, in the parish of Loghall, 
Jurat. November 10, 1 643."— /6/c?. 

42 



334 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^, 

secutions, in any one kingdom, was not greater, in many years, than 
the destruction of the English by the Irish, in the space of (wo 
months J ! * 

The task- is endless to a writer to point out, and must be irksome 
to the reader, to see detailed, the atrocious lies of this legendary 
author, Temple. It is established, by the testimony of Carte, lieland, 
and Warner, that the rebellion did not extend beyond Ulster, except 
very partially, before the middle and end of December, that is, about 
two months ; and yet this wretched scribbler states that more were 
destroyed in that space of time than in many years in the heathen 
persecutions ! 

That the Irish used to twist withes about the heads of the Englisn 
till the blood sprang out of the crowns of their heads !t 

That a murderer's wife found much fault with her husband's soldiers, 
for not bringing home the grease of a woman whom they had slain, for 
the purpose of making candles ! !;t 

That the English were such dupes, that they lent their weapons to 
the Irish. § This, truly, is the most ridiculous of all the stories. The 
Roman Catholics rise in rebellion to destroy the Protestants, who are 
such dupes and fools, that they give up their arms to " secure them 
from the violence of such of the Irish as were in arms in the next 
county.'''' I once more repeat, that it is difficult to tell whether we 
should most abhor the wickedness, or despise the folly, of the perjured 
miscreants who invented such miserable stories. 

The following extract from Temple's history, with the depositions 
on which it is grounded, may serve to amuse the reader, and will 
throw additional light on the mode in which that romance was com- 
piled : 

"How grievous and insupportable -must it needs be to a true Christian soul, to 
hear a base villain boast, that his hands were so weary with killing and knocking 
down Protestants into a bog, that he could not lift his arms up to his head?\\ or 

* "If we shall take a survey of the primitive times, and look into the sufTcrings 
of the first Christians that suffered under the tyranny and cruel persecution of those 
heathenish emperors, we shall not certainly find any one kingdom, though of a far 
larger continent, where there were more Christians surtcred, or more unparalleled 
cruelties were acted in many years upon them, than were in Ireland, -,vithin the 
space of iivo months, -dhcr the breaking out of this rebellion." — Ide?n, 100. 

f " Some they would take and writh withes about their heads, till the blood sprang 
out the crown of their heads." — Tkmple, 106. 

t "Elizabeth Baskervillc deposeth, That she heard the wife of Florence Fitz- 
Patrick find much fault with her husband's soldiers, because they did not bring along 
with them the grease of .Mrs. JVicholson, -whom tliey liad slain, for tier to make 
candles toitliul .' I Jurat. April 3G, 1043." — Idem, 92. 

§ " In several places, the Irish came, under divers pretences, and borroiued such 
■weapons and arms as t tie English had in. their lionses .' ! and no sooner got them 
into their hands, but they turned them out of their own doors: as they did at Glas- 
!ough, in the county of Monoghan, and by the same means they very gently and 
fairly got into their possession all the English arms in the county of Cavan ! ! ! 
The high sheriff there being an Irishman and a Papist, pretending that he took- llieir 
arms to secure them against the violence of such of the Irish as he understood to be 
in arms in the next county ! ! ! — Idem, 37. 

II " Eleanor Fullerton, the relict of William Fullerton, late parson of Lougall, 
deposeth, That in lent, 1041, a young roguing cow-boy gave out and affirmed, in 
this deponent's hearing, that his hands were so weary in killing and knocking 
down Protestants into a bog-pit, that tie could hardly lift his arms to his head.' ! ! 
Jurat. Sept. 1642." — Idem, 96. 



CHAPTER XXX. 335 

others to say, that they had killed so many English, that the grease or fat nvhich 
remained on their swords or skeins might have made an Irish candle P* or to con- 
sider that two youna; cow-boys should have it in their power to murder thirty-six 
Protestants'!" — Temple, 90. 

A new instance of the mental obliquity exhibited by the Anglo-Hiber- 
nian writers here presents itself. 

The spirit of lying and imposture which pervades those depositions, 
would naturally induce a sane mind to reject them wholly, as unde- 
serving of any attention. But, by a most perverted process of reason- 
ing, Leland ascribes these awful stories to the terrors excited by the 
horrible cruelties perpetrated by the Irish, which, he supposes, preyed 
on the imaginations of the English, and terrified them with the idea of 
lakes and rivers of blood, &c. &c. 

" They who escaped the utmost fury of the rebels, languished in miseries horrible 
to be described. IVieir imaginations rvere overpowered and disordered by the 
recollections of tortiire and butchery. In their distraction," [let us say, rather, in 
the depraved and loathsome state of the public mind] " every tale of horror -was 
eagerly received, and every sjiggestion of frenzy and melancholy believed im- 
plicitly, jytiraculons escapes from death, miraculous judg7nents on murderers, 
lakes and rivers of blood, marks of slaughter indelible by every human effort, 
visions of spirits chaunting hymns, ghosts rising from the rivers and s/irieking 
out revenge ; these and such like fancies were received and propagated as incon- 
testible." — Lei.and, III. 147. 

It is difficult to conceive of a stronger proof of the blindest preju- 
dice than is here exhibited by Leland. Whoever has travelled through 
the depositions in the preceding pages, extracted from Temple, Bor- 
lace, and Rushworth, will at once perceive that the object with the 
perjurers who swore to them, Avas to render their tales as terrific and 
awful as they could, for the purpose of aggravating the abhorrence, 
and ensuring the ruin, of the oppressed and despoiled Irish. They 
were quite certain, that in the prevailing spirit of the times, no impro- 
bability or impossibility would be a bar to their currency. This is so 
plain 'and palpable that it requires only to skim the surface, to per- 
ceive it. Instead, therefore, of believing, with Leland, that a man 
who boldly comes forward, and swears to " lakes and rivers of blood," 
and " visions of spirits chaunting hymns," acts under the influence 
of a disordered 'imagination, in consequence of the horrors he has wit- 
nessed, we are warranted, nay constrained to believe, that the whole 
is the creation not of a disordered, but a corrupted and abominably- 
lying imagination. Indeed there is no man who will allow his under- 
standing free operation, but will find it impossible to believe that those 
terror-inspiring stories could have ever proceeded from any other source 
than the prince of darkness, the father of lies. 

I feel that confidence, which truth and a good cause naturally in- 
spire, that the ground here assumed, is perfectly sound and unassaila- 
ble. This branch of the subject might here be dismissed — but I cannot 
resist the temptation to add one further proof of the magnitude of the 
errors that have prevailed on the subject of the universality of the in- 

—•»»>©© ft4«« — 

* " Elizabeth Champion, late wife of Arthur Champion, in the county of Fer- 
manaugh, esquire, saith. That she heard the rebels say, that they had killed so many 
Englishmen that the grease or fat which remained on their swords and skeins 
miglit -well serve to make an Irish candle ! ! ! ! Jurat. April 14, 1642." — Jdem, 97. 



336 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

surrection. Tliis proof rests on authority which the enemies of Ireland 
will not dare dispute. 

Sir William Petty states, that before the insurrection there were 
3,000 cstated Roman (Catholics in Ireland : and that, by judicial in- 
vestio-ations in the court of claims, held in 1663, it appeared that there 
were not moie than 400 of them* engaged in the glorious but unfor- 
tunate struggle for Irish liberty, which, even by the friends and par- 
tisans of the English revolution in 1088, the American in 1776, and 
the French in 1789, is so very erroneously and inconsistently styled 
a rebellion. And let it be observed, that, notwithstanding the very 
small proportion of the estated (yalholics who were implicated in the 
insurrection, I have established the fact, that every effort had been 
used by the lords justices to goad the whole nation into resistance, 
for the purpose of confiscating the ten millions of acres of the soil, 
which they and their friends in England had already devoured in ima- 
gination. 

• " The number of landed Papists, or freeholders, before the wars, was about 
3,000, -whereof, as appeals by 800 judgments of the court of claims, which sat anno 
1663, upon the innocence and effects of the \x\s\\, there laere not above one-seventh 
part, or 400, guilty of the rebellion.'''' — Petty, 23. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 337 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Barbarous system of ivarfare pursued by the Irish government. In- 
discriminate massacre of the Irish, men, women, and children. St. 
Leger, Monroe, Coote, Hamilton, Grenville, Ireton, and Crom- 
well, bathed in blood. Five days'' butchery in Drogheda. Detes- 
table hypocrisy of Cromivell. A medal and gold chain awarded 
to a noyadist. Extermination of man and beast, for twenty-eight 
miles 1 1 1 

" Thou hypocrite ! Fh-st cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt 
thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye." 

" / -zvitl a tale unfold, -whose lightest -word 
Will harrow up thy soul." — Shakspeare. 

I HOPE I have thoroughly satisfied the reader that the stories as 
well of the extreme cruelty practised by the Irish during the insur- 
rection, as of the extraordinary numbers that were massacred, are 
utterly destitute of foundation. They were originally fabricated by one 
of the basest of the scribblers who have surreptitiously obtruded them- 
selves into the honourable class of historians ; but have been since 
bolstered up by historians of high celebrity. 

I now proceed to display the infernal spirit by which the armies of 
the government were actuated throughout the whole insurrection, and 
to prove 

I. That those armies, with the most brutal and Vandalic rage, burned 
or otherwise destroyed whole towns and villages for many miles square, 
without any discrimination between the innocent and the guilty ; 

II. That unarmed and defenceless husbandmen and towns-people, 
with their wives and children, were wantonly butchered without the 
least pretext of treasonable practices. 

III. That priests, monks and friars, were peculiar objects of ven- 
geance, and were hung up or shot down like wild beasts. 

IV. That soldiers who had been overcome in battle — ceased to make 
resistance — thrown down their arms — and begged for quarter — were 
slaughtered by hundreds, sometimes by thousands. 

V. That after surrender made, and quarter promised, the faith 
solemnly pledged to the Irish was perfidiously violated, and they ivere 
barbarously butchered in cold blood. 

VI. In one word, that a more murderous system of warfare never 
prevailed, in any age or any country ; that many of the government 
commanders were as merciless and bloodthirsty as Attila or Genghis 
Khan ; and that some of the scenes of slaughter were so horrible, par- 
ticularly at Cashel, Drogheda, and Wexford, that they never were and 
never could be exceeded, and have been rarely equalled. 

In this investigation, I voluntarily subject myself to a disadvantage, 
of which the world has hitherto, I believe, never afiforded any precedent. 



338 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 

I had provided a large body of authentic testimony, from Clanrickarde, 
Castlehaven, Walsh, Curry, and other writers on the Irish side of the 
question, of which I proposed to avail myself. But, being determined 
lo remove all possible ground for cavil, I have laid the whole aside ; 
and shall rely solely on two species of authorities, which must over- 
whelm all opposition, and settle this question eternally. The first is 
the despatclies and documents of the sanguinary ruffians who perpe- 
trated the murders, desolation and depredations ; and the second, the 
statements of the Anglo-IIibernian historians. 

I thus place myself in the predicament of a man who has a process 
at law, and has prepared ample proofs to establish his claims ; but find^ 
ing his antagonist's documents so strong and so powerful against their 
owner, as to render his own unnecessary, he throws them into the fire ; 
and, as far as respects the contents of tliis chapter, one of the most im- 
portant in this whole work, it would not be afiected, if every page, 
written in defence of the Irish, were committed to the flames. 

If, under such circumstances, I make out my case, to use the legal 
phraseology, it will ailbrd the strongest proof that can be desired or 
conceived, of the intrinsic goodness of the cause, and of the extent of 
the delusion that has prevailed on the subject. I am well aware of the 
advantages I forego by this course ; but I forego them cheerfully, hav- 
ing no more doubt of the result, than that the sun, now setting in the 
western horizon, will rise again, resplendent, in all his majesty and 
glory, to illumine a grateful and admiring world. 

Those, however, who wish to peruse a list of the murders and mas- 
sacres perpetrated on the Irish, as recorded by the writers of that 
nation, are referred to the appendix to Clarendon's " History of the 
Irish Rebellion," where there is a lai-ge collection to be found, with due 
detail of time and place. 

Resting wholly on plain matter of fact, I am unfortunately debarred 
of the rhetorical flourishes of '■^ lakes and rivers of blood,'''' '■^spirits 
chuunting hymns,'' " ghosts rising from the rivers, and shriekiy^g 
out revenge,'''' and all those other " tales of horror,'" and " sugges- 
tions of frenzy,'''' which decorate the pages of the long train of his- 
torians, from Temple to Leland, who have exhausted the powers of 
eloquence in embellishing the legends of " the execrable Irish rebel- 
lion.'" But I feel lull confidence, that a 

" Hound, unvarnished talc" 

will ^^put them doion," in the estimation of every upright and candid 
reader. 

It is difiicult to conceive the intensity of the satanical rage with 
which the government soldiers were actuated against the Irish. The 
Spanish bloodhounds, let loose by the tiger, Pizarro, on the defence- 
less Peruvians, did not more eagerly devour their quivering limbs, 
than those ferocious barbarians fleshed their swords in the victims of 
their horrible passions — young and old — male and female. For ten, 
twenty, or thirty miles, in the open country, nothing in human shape 
escaped them. Neither man, woman, nor child, " though but a span 
long," escaped their infernal fury. When sated with slaughter, they 
took prisoners, and brought them to camp, it was with difficulty they 
could be prevailed on to rtfrain from butchering them there. To this 



CHAPTER XXXI. 339 

temper Borlace bears testimony, although somewhat obscurely, in the 
following paragi-aph. 

" The soltlicrs were then grown so implacable to the Irish, as they would scarce 
endure any ordinary Papist, much less suffer a rebel to be admitted amongst them." 

BORIACE, 70. 

The ease of a priest of the name of White, chaplain of the 
countess of Westmcath, strongly illustrates this insatiable rage for 
blood and slaughter. The marquess of Ormonde, with all his power, 
as commander in chief of the army, was unable to save the life of this 
unfortunate clergyman, against whom no crime was alleged but his 
clerical character. He had surrendered himself to the marquess, who 
had given him a protection. But having ventured from the countess's 
house, he was seized, and though Ormonde strove to save him, even 
only to take him to Dublin for trial, it was in vain. A mutiny took 
place, and the marquess was obliged to abandon him, to sate the rage 
of an infuriated soldiery, by whom he was immolated on the altar of 
fanaticism and national rancour.* 

The Irish writers accuse sir Charles Coote of issuing orders to the 
butchering parties he sent out in every direction, " not to spare the 
least child though but a span long^ — [Ireland's case briefly stated, 
43.] This charge is corroborated by llie following statement of the 
Rev. Dr. Nelson. 

" I have heard a relation of my own, who was captain in that service, relate, that 
no manner of compassion or discrimination was shewed either to age or sex ; but 
that the little children were promiscuously sufferers with the guilty ; and that if any 
who had some grains of compassion reprehended the soldiers for this unchristian inhu- 
manity, they would scoffnigly reply. Why ? J^'its will be lice, and so would dispatch 
them." — Nelsox, II. Introduction, vii. 

This was an attempt to carry completely into operation the horrible 
plan of extirpating the whole race ; the deliberate adoption of which I 
have proved, in a preceding part of this work, and which was for some 
time acted upon by the ruling powers. For the accomplishment of 
this grand object, the slaughter of the " /ece," that is, the full-grown 
men and women, was not deemed sufficient: the destruction of the 
" nits," or children, was necessary to complete the magnificent scheme 
of a new plantation of the kingdom ! 

Chapter XXVII. contains the sanguinary orders of the lords justices 
to murder " all the males able to bear arms in places where the rebels 
were harboured." " In the execution of these orders, the justices 
declaie, that the soldiers slew all persons promiscuously, not sparing 
the women, and sometimes not the children^ — Leland, III. 198. 

To this horrible fact, Warner bears testimony, in nearly the same 
words.! 

— i»»©@®<«"— 

* "He did endeavour to have saved him, at least, till he might be brought to Dub- 
lin. But the whole army (which was possessed by the parliament, and by the lords 
justices, with a very bitter spirit against the Roman Catholic clergy) mutinied upon 
it, and in the end, compelled the marquess to leave him to that justice, which they 
were authorised to execute, and so the man tvasbij them put to death."'' — Claren- 
BON, 218. 

■\ " Such indeed was the tenor of all their orders ; though they knew — for they 
own it in their letters — that the soldiers in executing these orders, murdered all per- 



340 VINDICI^ HIBEKNIC^. 

But was not this the consequence the miscreants calculated on pro- 
ducing? Could they have resonably expected any other ? When the 
devouring sword is invited from its scabbard by public authority, for 
the indiscriminate slaughter of " ???.en able to bear arms,'''' will not the 
expiring and bed-rid wretch be despatched to tlie other world, as a man 
"able to bear arms?" Will his cassock protect the priest? her bon- 
net or shawl the pity-inspiring female ? or its cradle and tender cries 
the helpless infant ? No : he must be a mere novice in human nature 
and human afl^airs, who entertains a doubt on the subject. 

The annexed Journal'- of the desolating career of the duke of Or- 



sons that came in their way promiscuously, not sparing the women, and sometimes 
not the children." — Wahxer, 194. 

" Monroe put sixty men, eighteen wojikn, a7id tivo priests to deatti, at Newry." 
— -Leland, III. 203. 

" The lord president of Munstcr, St. Leger, is so cruel and merciless, that he 
causes honest vien arid ivomen to be most execrably executed, and amongst the rest, 
caused a loomaii great with cliild to be ripped up, and three babes to be taken out 
of her womb, and thrust every of the babes with weapons through their little bodies. 
This act of the lord president hath set many in a sort of desperation." Lord of Up- 
per Ossory's letter to the earl of Ormonde. — Cabte, III. 51. 

" Sir Theophilus Jones had taken a castle, put some men to the sivord, and thir- 
teen priests, having with them two thousand pounds." — Whitelock, 527. 

" Their friars and priests were knoctced on ttie liead promiscuoxisly with the 
others, who were in arms." — Idem, 412. 

" Letters from Ireland, that the lord Inchiquin relieved some garrisons of the 
English in Tippcrary, entered Carrickc, and fortified a pass to make good his retreat, 
blew open the gate of Cullen by a petard, entered the town, took two castles by as- 
sault, and put three /lundred soldiers to tlie sword, and some women, notwithstanding 
order to the contrary." — Idem, 296. 

" Sir William Parsons hath by late letters advised the governor to the burning of 
Corn, and to pxit man, woman, and child to tlie sword; and sir ^1 dam Loftus fiath 
written in the same strain." — Oumoxde, II. 350. 

" The army, I am sure, was not eight thousand effective men ; and of them it is 
certain there were not above six hundred killed ; and ttie most of tJiem that were 
Icilledwere butctiered after iltey had laid down ttieir arms, and had been almost an 
tiour prisoners, and divers of tliem murdered after tliey were brouglit witJdn the 
works of Dublin.'^ — Idem, II. 396. 

The bishop of Clogbcr " having detached colonel Swiney with a strong party, to 
make an attempt upon Castledoe, in the county Donegal, he ventured, contrary to 
the advice of the most experienced officers, with 3,000 men, to fight sir Charles 
Coote, with near double his number, at Letterkenny. Major-general O'Cahan, 
many of his principle officers, and fifleen hundred soldiers, were killed on the spot; 
arid ttie colonels Henry Hoe, and Plielim JfJ'uol 0'J\"eile, Hugh JMacgnire, 
Hugh J\Iac-J\Iahon, and others, slain after quarter given.'' — Carte, II. 113. 

" He [Monroe] at lord Conway's instance, who attended him in the expedition, 
advanced with 3,600 foot, three troops of horse, and four field pieces ; but, after 
taking a view of the place, on July 15, [1642,] seeing some parties of the enemy, 
who had no powder to fire, making a prey of cattle, and tcilling 700 country people, 
men, women, and children, who were driving away their cattle, he returned the 
next day to Newry." — Idein, I. 311. 

" Sir Charles Coote, immediately after fiis intiumun executions and promiscuous 
murders of people in Wictchw, was made governor of Dublin." — Idem, 259. 

♦"Sunday morning, Aprils, 1643. After prayers, the army marched to- 
wards the Naas, burning xeverul villages of the rebels in their march. 

" April 4. The army marched to Kilcullin, burning in tlieir march the villages 
in their way, whicli belonged to ttie rebels. 

" April 5, The army marched from thence to Athy, and in their way. burnt the 
castle and town of Kiltrutlu 



CHAPTER XXXI. 341 

monde, who is praised by Uarte, Warner and Leland for his mode- 
ration, in an expedition into the county of Meath, where he burned 
every tiling for about twenty miles square, will enable the reader to 

" April 11, The troops in their return back, marched through O'Dunn's country, 
and diirnf allfJte country until they came to Castle Cuff. 

" Sir Patrick Wymes burnt all the villages belonging- to Dempsie, and returned 
back that night with the troop to the fort of Mary-borough. 

" April 13. The army marched through to Athy, and burnt a great part of the 
territory of Clanmaleero, a country belonging to the lord Dempsie in rebellion."— 
RusHwoRTH, V. 507, 8, 9, 10. 

" If in the execution of martial law, he [St. Leger] spared neither sex nor age, 
his countrymen frequently expressed a generous indignation and horror at Ids 
barbarity.'" — Leland, III. 17S. 

" 1 he same part which lord Inchiquin was j>laying in Munster, by burning, 
]>btndering, and destroying ilie country, even to the gates of Limerick, was acted 
ly sir (y. Coote in Connaught, with a design, as it was supposed, to relieve Bon- 
I'tTity ; but he contented himself with -wasting and biirrmig the estates of lord Clan- 
rlckarde, about this time made a marquess, for his eminent suflerings and fidelity, 
U) whose care and activity in the first year of this rebellion he confessed that he 
owed his own, and his garrison's preservation." — Warneii, 371. 

" The townsmen of Padstow took an Irish vessel in their harbour, and put to the 
sioord thirty Irish, taken by them in that vessel at Padstow." — Whitelock, 202. 

" The next morning the governor with a party of horse, went out a»d burnt the 
country, two miles about." — Behnarh, 88. 

"The mother of colonel Fitz-Patrick was found guilty of the murder of the Eng- 
lish, with this aggravation, that she said she would make candles of their fat. Site 
tvas co7idenined to be burnt, and the sentence vjas execzitcd accordingly." — Lud- 
low, II. 443. 

" The party sent out by colonel Jones into the county of Wicklovv, are returned 
with a prize of 7 or 8000 co-ws, and have burnt doivn greatest part of tlie town of 
Wickloxv. In this expedition they met with no enemy." — Rusuwoktu, VII. 805. 

" Lord Lisle, with the men under his command, marched towards the counties of 
Westmeath, and Cavan, where they arrived about the middle of September, having 
destroyed all luliere they liud passed, -uiitliout striking a strolce, the rebels being 
(^according to their usual custom) retired to places of strength." — Bohlace, 102. 

" After a little conflict with the rebels, some of them were killed* nd this party 
burned great store of tlieir corn, preyed tlie couniry all along, brought aivay 1000 
of their co-ws, and returned without loss." — KusHwonTii, VII. 1385. 

" A party of horse was sent out, killed forty of them, and so pursued them, till 
the rest -were employed in burning the country after them, and so continued that 
day and the next." — BERNArii;, 87. 

" The three and twentieth day of March, they marched riiith fire and smoke to- 
ivards Atherdee" — Ibid. 

" Lord Inchiquin -was ivasting the province, and had laid the greatest part of it 
under contribution." — Cakte, IL 2. 

" Those forces joining ?Aonrce, he made up the strongest army that had been seen 
in Ireland during the war; it amounting to at least 10,000 foot and 1,000 horse. 
It was un^t however for any great undertaking, not being furnished with above 
three weeks victual. Monroe advanced with it into the county of Cavan, from 
V hence he sent parties into West.meath and Longford, which burnt tlie country, and 
, ztt to tlie s-word all the country people that they met." — Idem, I. 495. 

"All Condon's cormtry -was binned by the lord presideiit's forces, which were 
1 nt 1500 foot and 300 horse, and the castle of Curbeagh was taken. From thence 
be marched into the county of V/aterf^>td, and burned the country from Lismore to 
Dungarvun." — Smith, II. 133. 

" Tlie rebels were routed, and the -whole adjacent country ivasted by fire and 
staord. Coote fulfilled the commands of the state, to pillage, burn, and destroy, 
ivith an unfeeling rigour ; and in the execution of martial law, consulted his le- 
sentments more than the necessity of the public service." — Lelanji, III. 162. 

43 



342 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC.E. 

form some idea of the horrible havoc perpetrated by the Grenvilles, 
St. Legers, Cootes and Iretons, whom these writers acknowledge to 
have^been monsters of ferocity. 

Henry Tichbournc, governor of Drogheda, signalized for his san- 
guinary career, merited to be ranked with tlie destroyers, Ireton and 
Cromwell. In a familiar letter to his wife, as a matter of course, he 
communicates the information, that linding he could not induce the 
Irish to hazard tlie fortune of a battle, he had concluded " they were 
in another sort to be dealt with ;" and accordingly the wretch sallied 
out '^ every other mornhig, for several weeks ^^^ slaughtering all he 
met, without mercy ; so that he left '■^neither man nor beast a/ive,\^ 
for sixteen miles from the garrison.* And one of his (.'oadjulors in 
this business of destruction, perpetrated the same havoc, for twelve 
miles on the other side : thus filling the country with carnage for 
twenty-eight miles, and " not leaving man nor beast alive !" In another 
part of this letter, he informs her of one of his murderous expeditions, 
in which, he says, " he took no account of the slam; hut there ivas 
little mercy shoum in those tiniest [Tichbourne, 186.] What a 
hideous picture of incarnate demoniac rage do these horrible facts pre- 
sent to the mind's eye ! 

In consequence of the destruction and devastation thus perpetrated 
by Tichbftiune, and the desolation that ensued, the dogs which had 
fed upon the carcasses, became so fierce that they attacked and some- 
times destroyed the travellers taken by surprise, f 

— ">»9 ©©«<•— 

* " Finding that they did only put themselves in arms, and would no more 
now than formerly forsake their strength, to draw into equality of ground, notwith- 
standing their advantage of numbers, I concluded they were in another sort to be 
dealt with ; and from thenceforth, for the most part, I fell eveiy other morning into 
their quarters^^and continued those visitations for several weeks together, xvith the 
shmghter of veri/ muny of them, especially the new plantation in the county of 
Monaghan, and at the taking in of Harry O'NeaJc's house, in the Fews ; insomuch 
that by this oBurse, and the like acted often by, the garrison at Drogheda, there xvas 
neither man nor beast to be found in sixteen unites! between the two towns of 
Drogheda and Dundalk, nor on the other side of Dundalk, in the county of Manag- 
han, nearer than Carrick Mac-Cross, a strong pile, twelve miles distant!'^ — Ticii- 
BounNE, 188. 

f •' By the death of so many men about us, having their houses, and all their pro- 
vision either burnt or drawn hither, the dogs only s\xx\W\nQ, are foimd very usually 
(like that judgment of Jezebel for the murder of Naboth) feeding upon their tnas- 
ters ; tvliich taste of man^s Jlesli, made it very dangerous for tlie passengers iiithe 
roads xvho have been often set upon by those masiives, till tve -were as careful to 
kill them also.^' — Beunahd, 105. 

" Of the slain, there was upon the place reckoned 5470, besides those after glean- 
ed up, which were very many of the enemies foot. There could not escape above 
500, being as they were cnviron'd. Among those slain were 400 of Collogh Kit- 
tage's men. There -was also put to tlie sxvoi-d, -Lvitliout mercy, all formerly of our 
party noiv found amongst t/ie rebels, and all llnglisli, t/iough never of our party." — 
RUSHWORTU, VII. 780. 

" Monroe after a short stay at Carrickfergus, drew out his Scots forces, and 
marched into the county of Antrim, ivliere Jie macU a prey of about 5000 coius, 
burnt Glenaniie, a ioxcn belonging to the earl of Antrim, and wasted that noble- 
man's lands." — Caute, I. 310. 

" In their return they rendered the same service to sir John Gilfard, in Castle- 
Jordan, and burning the country all tlie -way as they marched, took by force the 
town of Trim." — Idem, 318. 

" With one thousand foot and two hundred horse they Uiarchcd that way-ward, 



CHAPTER XXXr. 343 

Some of the officers of the army of the government prided them- 
selves on neither giving nor taking quarter, and rauidered all the 
wretches they met with. Every Irishman with tliem was a rebel, and 
every rebel destined for slaughter. A barbarian of the name of Sand- 
ford, after committing horrible butcheries in Ireland, was withdrawn 
to England, where he signalized himself by the same havoc. He sent 
the following summons to Hawarden Castle, of which lie undertook 
the siege : 

" I presume you very well know, or have heard of my condition and disposition, 
and that / neither give nor lake quarter. I am now with my lirelocks, (who never 
yet neglected opportunity to correct rebels,) ready to use yoii as I /mve dune tlie 
Irish ; biit loth I am to spill my cotnilrymeti's blood, 

"THO. SANDFORD."* 

A murderous ruffian, commander of one of the vessels belonging 
to the English parliament, took a vessel with a number of Irish sol- 
diers on board, who were not only not insurgents, but had served under 
the duke of Ormonde against them, and, after cessation of hostilities in 
Ireland, were going to England, to be incorporated in the royal army.t 

— •>»►© @ 0«" — 

Jirst finished xvliat they had left undone at Slane in bnriiing the torvn and some vil- 
lages in ttie -ivay." — Behnakd, 87. 

" A number of ecclesiastics was found within the walls, and Cromwell, as if im- 
mediately commissioned to execute divine vengeance on these ministers of idolatry, 
ordered his soldiers to plunge tJieir zveapons into tJie helpless ivretches." — Lf.laxd, 
IV. 46, 

" These forces were composed of detachments out of the old Scots and English 
regiments ; and having with their artillery, which was sent by sea, battered down 
one or two houses in the place, O'Conner surrendered the castle. From thence 
they advanced in different parties into the counties of Mayo and Gallway, burning 
and destroying all before tlicm, taking great preys of cattle, of which they carried 
off 3 or 4000, but were forced to leave behind them many more thousands which 
they could not drive'away." — Carti;, I. 535. 

" Partly necessities, and partly desires to be in action, induced him abroad into 
the county of Kerry, where he forced compositions from such as were able ; the 
refractories were destroyed; in which he continued and in the county of Limerick, 
until he could find no subsistence fur the soldier, but saw all he could command 
consumed : the country so generally impoverished by his forces and the rebels, that 
it is very probable, before the spring, thousands -mHI perish of famine." — Rlsu- 
WORTH, VII. 976. 

" Lord Montgomery, and colonel Chichester, with two thousand foot, and two 
hundred and fifty horse, made another irruption into Armagh, and being joined by 
lord Moore from Dundalk, whose garrison was almost starving, iJiey -wasted all that 
country, and ranging over JMonaghan and Cavari without seeing an enemy for 
tliree weeks together, they toolc considerable preys of cattle." — Wauxeh, 271. 

f "The marquis of Ormonde had sent captain Anthony Willoughby with ^150 
men, which had formerly served in the fort of Gallway, from thence to Biistol. 
The ship which carried them was taken by Swanley, who was so inhuman as to 
tlirow seventy of the soldiers over-board, under the pretence that they were Irrsh, 
though they had faithfully served his majesty against the rebels during all the time 
of the war." — Cartk, I. 481. 

" The earl of Warwick, and the officers under him at sea, had, as often as he met 
with any Irish frigates, or such freebooters as sailed under their commission, taken 
all the seamen who became prisoners to them of that nation, and bound fhem back 
to back, and tlirown them overboard into lite sea, without distinction of their con- 
dition, if they were Irish. In this cruel manner very many poor men perished 

* Rushwortli, V. 300. 



344 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC.E. 

In pursuance of the ordinance for giving no quarter to Irish prisoners, 
he tied seventy of them back to back, and threw them into the sea. 
For this cruel act and other congenial exploits, ihe parliament of Eng- 
land ordered him to he presented iqitli a medal and a gold chain, of 
ihe value of tvjo hundred pounds.* 

daily ; of which, when it was generally known, the king said nothing, l>ecause 
none of those persons were in his majesty's service ; and how barbarous soever the 
proceedings were, his majesty could not complain of it, without undergoing thfe 
reproach of being concerned on the behalf, and in favour of the rebels of Ireland." — 
Ci.Anr,r,'nox, TI. 478. 

* "June IC44. Captain Swanley was called into the house of commons, and had 
thanks given him for his good service, and a chain of gold of two hundred pounds 
value ; and captain Smith his vice-admiral had another chain of one hundred pounds 
value." — Journals, Iff. 517. 

"As soon as Monroe had received an account of the cessation being concluded, 
he felt upon the Irish peasants, tv/io ivere getting in tlieir harvest in great secu- 
rity, as no lotiger tliinking of an enemy, and made a slaughter among them." — 
Idem, 485. 

" After a little dispute, the Parliament's ship boarded the Dunkirker, and pid all 
the Irish in her to the su-oj-d, and took the rest prisoners." — Idem, 204. 

" The garrison was sent away under convoy : but, by the disorderliness of an 
unpaid soldiery, they were almost all of them plundered and miirdered." — War- 
ner, 271. 

" T/iey /tanged above ffty of the Irish, according to the lord general his orders." — 
Whitelock. 

" Captain Barrow took O'Ronie's island in Ireland, and put eighty there to the 
sxvord." — Whitelock. 

Douglas, " marched as througli an enemy's country, his men plundering a7id even 
murdering with impunity." — Lelaxd, IV. 307. 

Lord Brogliill, " on the 21st of August, 1642, took the cjtstle of Ardmore, in the 
county of Waterford, being yielded on discretion. The women and children were 
spared ; biit ilie men, a hundred and forty in number, ~u-erc put to tlie sword .'" — 
liusuwonTH, V. 515. 

" Sir Frederick Hamilton entered the town of Sligo, and burnt it, freed many 
Protestants, and slew in ttie streets three hundred Irish /" — Ibid, 

" Colonel Sydenham, major Sydenham, and other forces hastened thither, put 
them to flight, and pursued them almost to Wareham ; slew twelve, and took sixty 
horses and a hundred and sixty prisoners, whereof e/^/j/ being natural Irish, seven 
of them were immediately hanged, and the other spared, for doing execution on his 
fellows." — Idem, 686. 

" Some IValloons, whom ttie soldiers toolc for Irislrmen, were put to ttie sivord!" — 
Whitelock. 

" Inchiquin commits great destruction, as far as he dares venture, about Dublin 
and Tredah, by burning and driving away of their cattle, liangs all lie can meet with, 
^oing to the lord lieutenant." — Idem. 

" 'I'licy defeated and pursued them with great siaxi^iicx, granting quarter to none 
but ofpcers. Mout two tliousand fell, by the weapons of an enemy transported by 
zeal and resentment; about five Imndred plunged into latce Erne ; and but one of 
all the multitude escaped." — ] .eland, IV. 256. 

" .4* no quarter was given, except to colonel Richard Butler, son to the lord Ikerio 
(who was the last man of the Irish army that retired) and two or three other offi- 
cers, fexv prisoners 7L'ere made," — S.iiiTH, II. 142. 

" The left, commanded by Mac-Allisdrum, consisting of brave northern Irish, 
stood their ground ; but were at last forced to yield to the conquerors; their com- 
maader giving up his sword to colonel Purden. But lord Inctiiquin having, before 
the balMe, ordered that no quarter stundd be given to ttie enemy, the brave Mac- 
Allisdrum and most of his men were put to the sword in cold blood.' ! ! an action 



CHAPTER XXXI, 345 

I cannot allow myself to doubt, for a moment, that I have fully estab- 
lished my positions on the most impregnable ground. Limiting my- 
self, as I have done, to the acfounts of the perpetrators of the murders, 
and their historians, it is matter of astonishment, that I have been able 
to adduce such strong evidence. Were I to avail myself of the writings 
of the suflerers and their historians, I could have multiplied the proofs 
tenfold. But it is a peculiar feature in this history, as I have already 
stated, that the criminals narrate their crimes, with as little ceremony as 
if they claimed glory for them. 

The pretences on which the Irish were slaughtered, were in many 
instances of the most frivolous and contemptible character : but it is 
a trite observation, that those who are wicked enough to perpetrate 
crimes, are never without a plea to justify, or at least to palliate, their 
guilt. Sir S. Harcourt besieged a castle in the vicinity of Dublin, 
where, venturing too near, he was shot dead. The barbarian be- 
siegers, when they took the castle, to revenge the death of their 
general, slaughtered every man, woman, and child it contained.* War- 
ner relates this atrocious act, not merely without censure, but with 
^" apparent" justification, or at least extenuation. He says, " the sol- 
diers were so enraged at the coivardly manner in which he was killed, 
that they put all within to the sword." This was probably the pretext 
the murderers assigned at the time, and which the doctor copied with- 
out reflection. It would appear that the reverened historian supposed 
there was some ceremony necessary to be observed by the garrison of 
a besieged castle, before they shot at their enemies. Perhaps he 
thought they ought to have sent a herald to Harcourt, to warn him to 

which, ill a great measure tarnished the glory of so complete a victory. There -were 
4000 Irish killed on the spot I J ! ''—Idem, 162. 

" Lieutenant colonel Sanderson, at the same time, and Sir Francis Hamilton 
coming in the nick of time with his troop, zAe^ had all execution upon them for Jive 
milesT — Rushworth, VI. 239. 

" Colonel Mathews, at Dromore, getting together a body of two hundred men, 
attacked five hundred of the rebels; and having killed three hundred of them with- 
out the loss of a man, the next day he pursued the rest, ivho had hid themselves 
about in the bushes, and, starting- them like hares out of their formes, killed a 
hu7tdred and f ft if more ! ! ! ! " — Wakner, 1 13. 

" The lord Inchiquin took Pilborne castle by storm, and put all in it but eight to 
the sivord." — Whitelock. 

" His men had the pursuit of the rebels seven miles, three several ways, as long 
as the day lasted, and in the flight and pursuit, ivere slain of the rebels about four 
thousand ! ! .' ! " — Idem. 

" The rebels -were pursued tvithout mercy ; and in their flight, spread a general 
consternation through ail their adherents." — Lelanii, III. 201. 

" In the battle, and a bloody pursuit of three miles, 7,000 of the Irish were 
slain ! ! ! The unrelenting fury of the victors appeared in the number of their 
priso7iers, tvhich amounted only to 450 ! ! I " — Leland, IV. 342. 

* " Sir S. Harcourt was sent out with a small party, in order to dislodge them. 
But being obliged to send back for some battering cannon, whilst he waited for 
these, and was giving his soldiers some orders, one of the rebels perceiving him, 
discharged his piece at him, and gave him a mortal wound ; of which be died the 
next day, to the prejudice of the service and the great grief of the English. His 
men, who loved him greatly, were so enraged, at the coivardly manner in ivliich he 
•was killed, that when the cannon came up, and had made a breach sufficient for them 
to take the castle by storm, they put all -within to the stvord, -withvut sparing man, 
ivoman, or child ! ! ! ! ! "—Warner, 183. 



346 ViNDICLf: HIBEKNIC.^. 

beware of tlie bullet. This is sheer nonsense. Who would dare to 
censure for cowardice the man who shot General Wolf or General 
Montgomery at Quebec ; General Mercer, at Princeton ; General Ross, 
at Baltimore ; or General Packenham, at JNew Orleans? In a word, 
lives there a man absurd enough to aver, that there is any cowardice 
in sending a whizzing bullet to salute a besieging enemy, who ven- 
tures within reach of a shot ? 

Tiiaf " straws show which way the wind blows," is an adage of 
more sound sense than elegance. An occurrence which Ludlow nar- 
rates, with great naivete, affords a strong corroboration of the various 
pi-oofs already adduced of the murderous spirit which actuated the forcq^ 
of tlie Irish government. It evinces, that no raging blood-hounds were 
ever more ravenous after their prey, than they were for the slaughter 
of the devoted Irish. 

A few wretched fugitives had escaped from their enemies, taken re- 
fuge in a cave, and were discovered by LudU)w's army, on his march. 
Thirsting for their lives, he spent nearly two days in the effort to 
smother them by smoke ; but his endeavours failed of success. At 
length, some of his soldiers forced their way into the cave, where the|f 
found about twenty defenceless wretches, whose forlorn state would 
have almost excited the pity of a band of ruthless Creeks or Cherokees : 
but humanity or pity for the Irish formed no part of. the system then 
pursued. Fifteen of them were butchered in the cave ; and four or five 
brought out alive, who probably shared a similar fate, although the 
writer is silent as to the issue.* 

This single fact, narrated by the master butcher himself, would, if 
it stood alone, be sufficient to establish the infernal spirit with which 

—»"»©©©«<• — 

*"From hence I went to visit the garrison of Dundalk, and being upon my 
return, I found a party of the enemy retired within a hollow rock, which was dis- 
covered by one of ours, who saw five or six of them standing before a narrow 
passage at the mouth of the cave. The rock was so tliick, that we thought it im- 
possitile to dig it down upon them, and therefore resolved to try to reduce them by 
smoke. After some of our men had spent most part of the day in endeavouring to 
smnther those loitliln, tiif fire placed at the mouth of the cave, they withdrew the 
fire ; and the next morning, supposing the Irish to he made incapa!)le of resistance 
by the smoke, some of them with a candle before them crawled into the rock. One 
of the enemy, who lay in the middle of the entrance, fired his pistol, and shot the 
first of our men in the head, by whose loss we found that the smoke had not taken 
the designed effect. But seeing no other way to reduce them, I caused the trial to be 
repeated, and upon examination found that though a great smoke went into the 
cavity of the rock, yet it came out again at other crevices ; upon which / ordered 
th'ise places to be clrjselt/ stopped, and another smother made. About an hour 
and a half after this, one of them wa^ heard to groan very strongly, and afterwards 
more weakly, whereby we presumed that the work was done ; yet the fire was con- 
tinued tdl about midnight, and then taken away, that the place might be cool enough 
for ours to enter the next morning. At which time some went in armed with back, 
breast, and head-piece, to prevent such another accident as fell out at their first 
attempt ; but they had not gone above six yards before they found the man that had 
been heard to groan, who was the same that had killed one of our men with his 
pistol, and who, resolving not to quit his post, had been, upon stopping the holes of 
the rock, choakcd by the smoke. Our soldiers put a rope about his neck and drew 
him out. The passage being cleared, they entered, and liaviiig put about ffteen to 
the swo^-d, brought four or five out alive, with the priest's robes, a crucifix, chalice, 
and other furniti^re of that kind. Those within preserved themselves by laying their 
heads close to a water that ran througli the rock," — Ltdlow, I. 422. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 347 

the armies of the government were actuated. It is easy to conceive 
that those whose thirst for blood induced them to arrest a considerable 
army on its march, and spend two days, in the jiope of glutting tiieir 
rage with a few human victims who had sought security in a cavern, 
would llesh their swords indiscriminately in all they met in human 
form, male or female, old or young, bearing the hated Irish name. This 
very rational conclusion is fully established by the mass of revolting 
facts contained in the present chapter. 

A circumstance which occurred in consequence of the murderous 
ordinance of the long parliament* to give no quarter to Irish prisoners, 
evinces such Iranscendant injustice and folly, that it deserves to be put 
on undying record, to display the temper of the times, and to prove 
that the slaughter of the Irish was regarded as perfecUy innocent. 

The army of the parliament had taken a number of prisoners, among 
whom were thirteen Irishmen, who, in pursuance of the above ordinance, 
were immediately executed. Piince Rupert, bold, brave, and deter- 
mined, took measures to ascertain the fact ; and, as soon as it was 
established, singled out an equal number of prisoners belonging to the 
enemy, and, as right and justice required, in order to arrest the pro- 
gress of this murderous system, retaliated on them the cruelty of which 
their officers had set such a teriible example. 

It is incredible what an outcry this laudable, because necessary, 
measure of severity excited. Had the prince hanged these men in 
retaliation for the slaughter of an equal number of cats or dogs, his 
cruelly and injustice could not have been more severely execrated than 
it was by the parliament, whose army was Avith difficulty prevented 
from immediately butchering their prisoners ; as if they had not been 
themselves the original aggressors. f The carnage of the Irish, being 
sanctioned by the ordinance of parliament, they regarded as lawful and 
innocent; but the retaliatory execution of their associates was, forsooth, 
abominable murder. 

Prince Rupert was made of too " stern stuff," to be teriiied out of 
his manly purpose. He announced his determination to pursue the 

— >■•»9®©^<" — 
* Supra, 299. 

f " To the worthy and honoured William Lciithal, Esqr. speaker of the honour- 
able house of commons. 
" Right honourable, 
" According to the ordinance of parliament, in that behalf, we caused some Irish 
rebels, to thqa^umber of tliirlcen, to be put to death ; and since prince Rupert's 
coming into these parts, it happened that some of our men were taken by some of 
his commanders ; and, as is verified to us, after quarter given them, were, by the 
prince's command, executed ; which we hearing of, sent a trumpet to know the 
truth of the report, and the cause why they so suiTered, by whom he returned us the 
letter inclosed for answer. The death of these soldiers being known in our several 
garrisons, hath so incensed the soldiery, that they vow revenge, and we found it 
difficult to prevent their violent falliiiff upon the prisoners in our custody ; whereof 
we thought good to certify this honourable house, and humbly pray your advice 
hoTv ive shall prevent the acting the like cruelly upon atcr soldiers fur the future. 

Joiix Mackworth, RoiiKRT Olive, 
AxDiij:w Lloti), Thomas Hakt, 

Samukl Moore, Leigh Owen, 

Rour.RT CilAKLTOX, 

"Salop, March "i, 1644." — Parliamentary History, XIII. 444. 



348 VINDICLE HIBERNIC.f:. 

system of lex talionis, and to murder man for man.* There do not 
appear any data whereon to ground an opinion of the ultimate issue 
of this sanguinary rivahy : but it is more than probable, that the energy 
and spirit of the prince stayed the progress of the devouring sword, 
and rescued many unfortunate Irishmen from the butchery ordained 
for them by act of parliament. 

Murderous as, in general, were the commanders of ihe forces against 
the Irish, there were some of them who far exceeded their colleagues 
in the dreadful trade of slaughter. Of these, St. Leger, Monroe, In- 
chiquin, sir Richard Grenville, sir Charles Coote, Cromwell, Ireton, 
and Tichbourne, stand proudly pre-eminent, as prime ministers of 
Satan, in the horrid work of extermination. 

Grenville was naturally ferocious and bloodthirsty : but his native 
ferocity was whetted by avarice and rapacity, which goaded him to 
deeds of horror, of the blackest die. He *hung old and bed-ridden 
men, for not discovering wealth wliich they did not possess; and, with 
equal barbarity, hung women, frequently of quality, because they had 
not as much money as he had expected.t This barbarian, having 
been ordered to England, pursued there the same system of rapine and 
murder.! 

Of all the cases of murderous cruelty, that marked the career of the 
government forces in Ireland, the most atrocious occurred at the sur- 
render of Drogheda. The history of the Huns, Vandals, Goths, and 
Ostrogoths, or of those scourges of the human race, the successors of 
Mahomet, may be searched in vain for any thing more shocking. In 

* Extracts from a letter of Prince Rupert to the Earl of Essex. 

" Those solfliers of mine, that were barbarously murdered in cold blood, after 
quarter given them at Shrewsbury, were such as, during the time they were in 
Ireland, served his majesty stoutly, constantly, and faithfully, against tiie rebels of 
that kingdom ; and, after the cessation there, were, by his majesty's command, trans- 
ported to serve him in this, where they honestly performed the duty of soldiers." — 
Idem, 455. 

" If the contrary course shall be held, and any prisoners under my command shall 
be taken, executed and murdered in cold blood, under what senseless and uniust pre- 
tence whatsoever; for every officer and soldier, so causelessly and barbarously mur- 
dered, I will cause so many of the prisoners remaining in my power to be put to 
death in the same manner : and I do not in the least doubt but the blood of those 
miserable men, who shall so suffer by my order, as well as those who shall be so 
butchered by that ordinance your lordship mentions, shall be required at their hands, 
who by their cruel examples, impose a necessity upon other men to ol^i^ve the rules 
they lay down." — Idem, 457. 

j " Sir Richard Grenville, upon the fame of jjcing a good officer, was sent over 
with a very good troop of horse; was major of the earl of Leicester's own regiment 
of horse, and was very much esteemed by him, and the more by the Parliament, for 
the signal acts of cruelty he did every day commit vpon 'the Irish ! ! ! ! which 
were of so many kinds upon both sexes, young and old, hang-iiig old men who -cvere 
bedrid, because they v.'ould not discover where their money was, that he believed 
they had ; and old tvomen, some of quality, after he had plundered them, and found 
less than he expected ; that they can hardly be believed, though notoriously known 
to be true ! ! ! "--Ci,A!iT:xnox, II. 414. 

\ " He made one of them hang all the rest ; which, to save his own life, he was 
contented to do ; so strung his appetite was to those executions he had been accus- 
tomed to in Ireland, -without any lci?id of commission, or pretence of authority" — 
Idem, 415. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 349 

fact it IS not in the power ot" man, were he possessed by all the furies 
of the heathen mythology, to exceed these frightful scenes. They 
may be equalled, — but can never be surpassed. 

Cromwell had besieged this town for some time ; and was finally 
admitted on promise of quarter. The garrison consisteil of the flower 
of the Irish army, and might have beaten him back, had they not been 
seduced by his solemn promise of mercy, which was observed till the 
whole had laid down their arms. Then the merciless wretch com- 
manded his soldiers to begin a slaughter of the entire garrison, which 
slaughter continued for five days ! ! with every circumstance of brutal 
and sanguinary violence that the most cruel savages could conceive or 
perpetrate.* 

" No age was spar'd ; no sev, nay no degree ; 
Not infants in the porch of life were free. 
The sick, the old, who conld but hope a day 
Longer by Nature's bounty, not let stay : 
Virgins and widows, matrons, pregnant wives, 
All died. 'Twas crime enough that, they had lives."' — Be.v Joxsox. 

The canting and hyprocritica^ impostor, in his despatches to the Par- 
liament, had the shameless impudence to ascribe '■'■ the glorif of this 
bloody deed to God, " to whom indeed the praise of this mercy be- 
longs!!"! And such was the delusion of those times, that, in all the 

*"The assault was given, and his [Cromwell's] men twice repulsed; but in the 
third attack, colonel Wall being unhappily killed at the head of his regiment, his 
men were so dismayed thereby, as to listen, before they had any need, to the enemy 
offering- tliem quarter ! ! admitting them upon those terms, and thereby betraying 
themselves and their fellow-soldiers to the slaughter ! ! .ill llie officens and soldiers 
of CromxvelCs army promised quarter ti) siicti as ivoidd lay do-ini tlieir arms, 
and performed it as long as any place held out ; which encouraged others to yield. 
But when they had once all in their power, and feared no hurt that could be done 
them, Cromwell, being told by Jones, that he had now all the flower of the Irish army 
ill his hands, ^«re orders ttiat no quarter s/iovld be g-iven ! ! ! so that his soldiers 
were forced, many of them against tfieir -cuill, to kill their prisoners ! ! ! The 
brave governor, sir A. Aston, Sir Edm. Verney, the colonels Warren, Fleming, and 
Byrne, were killed in cold blood. ! ! ! and indeed all the officers, except some few 
of least consideration, that escaped by miracle. The marquis of Ormonde, in his 
letters to the king and lord Byron, says, " that on this occasion Cromxuell exceeded 
himself and any thing tie had ever tieardof, in breach nf faith and bloody intin- 
mardty ! ! ! andthat the cruelties exercised there for five days after the town -was 
taken, would make as many severed pictures cf ii'ihumurdty, as are to be found in 
the book of martyrs, or in the relation rf ^imboyua ! ! .' '' — Caiitk, II. 84. 

"j- " Sir, — It has pleased God to bless our endeavours at Drogheda ; after battcrin"', 
we stormed it. The enemy were about three thousand strong in the town. 'I'hey 
made a stout resistance, and near one thousand of our men being entered, the 
enemy forced them out again. lint God giving a ire-tu courage to our men, they 
attempted again, andeiitered, beating the enemy from their defences. The enemy 
had made three retrenchments, both to the right and left, where we entered, all which 
they were forced to quit ; being thus entered, we refused t/iem quarter, having the 
day before summoned the town. I believe we put to ilie sword tlie wtiole number 
of the defenda7tts ! ! I do not think thirty of the whole number escaped with 
their lives: those that did arc in safn custody, for the Barbadoes. Since that time 
the enemy quitted to us Trim, and Dundalk ; in Trim they were in such haste, that 
they left tlieir guns behind them. Tins hath been a marvellous great mercy ! ! ! / 
The enemy being not willing to put an issue upon a field battle, had put into 
this garrison almost all their prime soldiers, being about three thousand horse and 
foot, under the command of their best ottiiers,sir Arthur Aston being made governor 

14 



350 VINDIOLE HIBERNIC^. 

chuiTJies in Loudon, tlianks were returned to the God ot" mercy, for 
this barbarous slaughter of liis creatures!* 

Hisiory furnishes no circumstance more disgusting, revolting, or 
liideous,' than this nauseous compound of base perfidy, murderous 
cruelty, and abominable hypocrisy. Never was the throne of the 
Living (]!od more egregiously insulted, than by these impious offerings 
of thanksgiving; and never were the thunders of heaven more loudly 
called for, than to blast the Pharisaical wretches who made such a 
mockery of all the imperious duties of humanity and religion. 

JSome time afterwards, Cromwell gained possession of Wexford, by 
treachery ; Avhere a carnage was perpetrated, as atrocious as thaj. 
which had taken place at Drogheda.f The perfidy and cruelty were 
exactly of the same character as the proceedings at the latter place. 
Commissioners on the part of the citizens had made a treaty with 
Cromwell, whereby persons and property were to be secured, as well 
of the garrison, as tlie inhabitants.!: But in violation of the treaty, 
the whole, to the number of 2000, men, vtomen, and children, were 
slaughtered. 

Ireton, apparently sated Avith tlaughter, gave protection to the 
remnant of the inhabitants of a certain barony. But " being informed 
that they had broken the articles," he, without inquiry, issued orders 
to slaughter every '■'■man, tvoman, and child'''' it contained. § Lord 
Broghill, thougli a sanguinary ruffian, shuddered at tlie barbarity of 
those terrible orders ; remonstrated with Ireton ; and at length, with 
considerable difficulty, prevailed on him to confine the massacre to 

There were some seven or eight regiments, Ormonde's being one, under the com- 
niaiiu of sir Edmund V^eriiey. 1 do not believe, neither do I hear, that anu officer 
escaped -ii-ith his life, save unlif one licuteiunit, who, I hear, going to the enemy, 
said, that he was the only man that escaped of all the garrison. The enemy were 
tilled upon this with much terror : and truly 1 believe tliis bitterness will save much 
effusion of 'blood, thruiigh Hie goodness of God! ! ! 

" I wish that all honest hearts may ffive the gloi-y of this to God alone, to -whom 
indeed /lie praise of this mercy belongs!!! for instruments they were very incon- 
siderable to the work throughout. 

O. CROMWELL."!! 

* " The ministers of London acquainted the people with the great success of the 
parliament's forces in Ireland, and returned thanlcs to God for the same." — Ibid. 

-j- " As soon as (Cromwell had ordered his batteries to play on a distant quarter of 
the town, [Wexford] on his summons being rejected, Stafford admitted his men into 
the castle, from whence issuing suddenly, and attacking the wall and gate adjoining, 
they were admitted, either through the treachery of the townsmen or the cowardice 
of the soldiers, or perhaps both: and the slaughter was cdmost as great as at JOrog- 
heda .'/" — WAH^'I;u, 47G. 

t" Commissioners, treating with Cronrwell, had procured the safety of the inhabi- 
tants of the town — and the preservation of it from j^lundcr ; as [well as] leave for 
the soldiers to depart every one to their own homes (they engaging not to bear 
arms any more against the state of England) and lastly of life to the officers." — 
BouLACE, 225. 

§ " Soon after Ireton had the command of the army, he was informed that a cer- 
tain barony had broken the articles in consideration of which they had been pro- 
tected. He marched therefore against this barony, and gave immediate orders to 
his soldiers to kill man, -woman, and child!! ! but before these orders were exe- 
cuted, lord Broghill expostulated with him upon the cruelty of such proceedings."— 
Ohhduy, L Memoirs, 32. 

ll Whileiock, -iiS. 



CHAPTER XXXI. Sf)! 

persons Ibuud in arms, or who made resistance.- Those who co!i- 
."jider the awe wliich a ferocious army inspires, the reluctance which, 
without the most grievous outrage, the peasantry must have felt to 
encounter the swords of a victorious enemy, as well as the violence 
and rapacity of such an enemy, will be led to believe, that the provo- 
cation was of a similar character with that whicii, according to Phaedrus, 
was given by the lamb, drinking at the lower part of the stream, to the 
wolf, allaying his thirst above, who charged the innocent animal with 
muddying the waters. The strong probability is, that some individual 
resisted the rape of his wife or daughter, or the plunder of his proper- 
ty, and that the foiled ruffians magnified the affair into a violation of 
the protection. But be that as it may, it does not diminish our horror 
of the merciless Ireton, who issued the murderous mandate to slaughter 
"man, woman, and child;" as it must be obvious, that, if there were 
really a violation of the articles, a large portion of the men were pro- 
bably wholly innocent: and, at all events, the women, and more 
especially the children, could not have deserved the extermination from 
which they were so hardly rescued. 

To the wretched Irish, neither oaves, nor castles, nor churches, 
afforded any security. The murderous spirit of their enemies pursued 
them'in every quactor, with as litde mercy as the tiger displays towards 
the bleating lamb. 

Three thousand men, women, and cliildren, of all ranks and ages, 
took refuge in the cathedral of Cashel, hoping tiie temple of the Living 
God would afford them a sanctuary from the butcheries that were 
laying the \yhole country desolate. The barbarian Ireton forced the 
gates of the church, and let loose his blood-hounds among them, who 
soon convinced them how vain was tlieir reliance on the temple or 
the altar of God. They were slaughtered, without discrimination.t 
Neither rank, dignity, nor character, saved the nobleman, the bishop, 
or the priest; nor decrepitude, nor his hoary head, the venerable sage 
bending down into the grave; nor her charms, the virgin; nor her 
virtues, the respectable matron; nor its helplessness, the smihng in- 
fant. Butchery was the order of the day, — and all shared the common 
fate. 

" Behold the furious and unnitying soldier, 
PuHing his reeking dagger fioiii the bosoms 
Of gasping wretches. Death in every quarter, 
Witli all that sad disorder can produce, 
To make a spectacle of horror. 

" Distracted mothers 
Kneeling before their feet, and begging pity ; 
Their naked, mangled breasts besmeared with blood, 
And even the milk, with which their fondled babes 
Softly they hush'd, drop in anguish from them." — Otwat. 

* " He was therefore humbly of opinion, that it v/ould be more just, reasonable, 
and honourable, to order the soldiers to kill none but who were found in arms or 
made any opposition. With these words, Ireton was at last, though htn-dly, per- 
suaded io revoke his bloody commands .''^ — Orukky, I. 33. 

j " Having brought together an army, he marched into the county of Tipperary, 
and hearing that many priests and gentry about Cashel had retired with their goods 
into the church, he stormed it, and being entered, put three thousand of them to the 
sivoTd, taking the priests even from under the altar.'" — Loulow, I. 106. 



352 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC^. 

Thai the leaders of the forces of the government perpetrated the 
most atrocious cruelties, 1 have fully proved. I shall now give a feu- 
strong facts, to satisfy the reader, that they gloried in their guilt, and 
regarded the extent of their murders as constituting their merits. The 
sanguinary lord Orrery, bending down into the grave, being seventy- 
six years of age, in urging the claims of the earl of Barrymore and his 
two sons on the speaker of the English house of commons, appears 
to lay his chief dependence for success on the desolation they had 
perpetrated. The fust, he says, lately hung up, " forty-three notable 
rebels for a breakfast."* It is not difficult to conceive what hideous 
havoc and carnage the constant repetition of these breakfasts, and din-, 
ners and suppers of the same character, must have produced. 

The merit of the two sons of lord Orrery far transcended that of 
lord Barrymore ; as they, in the course of a few months, destroyed 
above three thousand of the Irish.t This afforded them a sure claim 
to the favour and protection of government. 

Sir William Cole, with one regiment of foot, of five hundred men, 
and one troop of horse, is recorded by Borlace to have slain 2,417 
swordsmen, in various skirmishes and battles ! and to have " starved 
and famished of the vulgar sort," whose property they had previously 
plundered, no less than " 7000 persons I ! ! J " and thus, adds he, " the 
English in all parts fought, so as indeed the rebels lost, in the general, 
many men, and much of their substance." That they lost "much of 
their substance," and that their enemies were as justly celebrated for 
their skill in plunder as for their thirst of blood, is beyond doubt. The 
following circumstance will shed additional light on this subject. 

Sir Richard Cox, in the subsequent war between James II. and Wil- 
liam, boasted that he had, in the single county of Cork, Jcilled and 
hanged three thousand of the Irisli ;\ made preys to the amount 
of twelve thousand pounds ; and divided three hundred and eighty 
pounds among one troop. This, it is to be presumed, is a pretty fair 
specimen of the slaughter and rapine that extended throughout the 
kingdom. 

When a view is taken of the various thousands gleaned up in the 

— ■•.►«©»«• — 

* " The earl of Barrymore hatli nothing but what he fighteth with the rebels 
for, and getteth by his sword : he having- lateh/ lianged fortif-ihree notable rebels 
for a breakfast l'' — Ouiieuy, I. 12. 

+ " I do affirm, and will make good this undeniable truth, that my two sons, 
Kynaln.eaky and Bioghill, with those fon-es that I have raised and satisfied, and 
they command, have l)ecn the destruction of above three thousand rebels, since the 
h'eg'mn'in^ oi' i\\e i/isiiireclion /" — Idem, 15. This letter is dated August 25, 1(;42 ; 
and the insurrection had not spread into Munster until December, 1(541. 'J'his affords 
a clew towards forming an estimate of the horrible carnage perpetrated throughout 
the kingdom on the wretched Irish. 

j " As for the enemy, I used them like nettles, and squeezed them (I mean their 
vagabond partyes) soe hard, that they could seldom sting; having,. as I believe, 
killied and hanged no less ihaii three thousand of them, whilst I stayed in the 
county of Cork ; and taken from them, in cattle and plunder, at least to the value 
of 12,000/. which vou will easily believe, when you know that I divided 380/. be- 
tiveeji one troop (colonel Townsend's) in the beginning of August. After which 
colonel Beecher and the western gentlemen got a a prey -worth 3000/. besides several 
other lesser preys, taken by small partyes, that are not taken notice of." — Sydney 
Papers, M. 1. 168. ' . 



CHAPTER XXX [. 353 

preceding pages; 3,000 in one place; 7,000 in another; 4,000 in an- 
other; 5,000 in another, and so on in succession ; and when regard is 
had to the novel circumstance of the utter excUision of all the histories 
on the Irish side of the question, no man can doubt that in this war of 
extermination, originally founded on the manifest perjury of O'Conally. 
provoked by the most savage cruelty, and protracted by the combined 
influence of devouring avarice, religious bigotry, and the most ran- 
corous national hostility, there were, as I have already staled, from sir 
William Petty, above FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND OF THE 
IRISH " wasted by the sword, plague, famine, hardship, and banish- 
ment, between the 23d October, 1641, and the same day, 1652;" — 
[Petty, 18. Sir William states the precise number of 504,000.] that 
Ireland, during that war, exhibited as dreadful a scene of rapine and 
slaughter as either Mexico or Peru, when invaded by the Spaniards ; 
and that none of the sanguinary exploits of Cortes or Pizarro, or Santa 
Anna, could exceed, for atrocity, the deeds of Coote, St. Leger, Monroe, 
Inchiquin, Grenville, Hamilton, Tichbourne, Ireton, or Cromwell. 

The horrible scenes we have depicted were not confined to Ireland. 
The war was carried on, in England and Scotland, with similar rapine, 
desolation and carnage on both sides, royalist and republican. It is 
not necessary, nor would it be proper, to enter here into detail re- 
specting the affairs of the sister island. A few instances will be suf- 
ficient for my present purpose, merely to display the spirit of the age, 
the humanity of its warfare, and the peculiar propriety of the eternal 
reproaches, with which "the welkin has rung," against the barbarity 
of the Irish. 

Lord Clarendon, in various parts of his history, narrates the ruthless 
ferocity that raged in battle and after defeat, when neither age nor 
sex was spared. In particular, he states, that, in the pursuit of the 
royalists, after the battle of Naseby, there were about one hundred 
women slaughtered, and among them the wives of some of the officers.* 

According to Burnet, prisoners were slaughtered in cold blood, and 
after quarter given : and the preachers, from the pulpit, deprecated tlie 
extension of mercy towards them, and denounced all those who were 
for moderate measures.! 

I conclude with an account from Rushworth, of the ruthless and 
savage progress of Montross, in Scotland, anno 1644, which may stand 
a parallel with the murderous exploits of Ireton or Cromwell. For six 
weeks he acted the part of a demon incarnate, as far as his power ex- 
tended, laying the whole country in flames, and, in imitation of the 
sanguinary orders of the lords justices of Ireland, slaughtering all the 
males able to carry arms, or, in other words, ^' fit for war.'''' \ 

* " The enemy left no manner of cruelty unexercised that day ; and in the pur- 
suit killed about one hundred -women, whereof some -were the -wives of officers of 
quality ! " — Ci.arendon, II. 509. 

\ " Upon this occasion, many jjrisoners that had quarter given them, -were mur- 
dered in cold blood. ! The preachers thundered in their pulpits against all that were 
for moderate proceedings, as guilty of the blood that had been shed ! ' Tldne eye 
shult not pity, and thmi shall not spare,' were often inculcated after every execu- 
tion ! ! ! !" — BituNKT, I. 40. 

i '• Montross dividing his army into three brigades, ranged over the whole country, 
and laid it waste ; us many as they find in arms, J^oinq- to the rendezvous, they 



354 VINDICIifJ HIBERNIC^. 

I cannot close this chapter without some reflections on the conduct 
and character of Phelim O'Neil, whose history is involved in consider- 
able uncertainty. He appears to be given up to unqualified censure, 
as having been guilty of excessive and unparalleled cruelties. Tiie 
characteristic falsehood, which, as I have shown, strongly marks the 
Anglo-Hibernian histories of Ireland, should make us, unless disposed 
to be deceived, receive with extreme caution, whatever they assert that 
is not supported by unimpeachable documents. And the evidence on 
which the accusation rests, is by no means conclusive. On the con- 
trary, there is every reason to believe, that the severe censures of 
which he has been the object, are unfounded. That he put to deatU 
many of his prisoners in cold blood, appears highly probable. But 
it is not only equally probable, but almost certain, lliat it was in retali- 
ation for the horrible cruelties perpetrated on the Irish by the govern- 
ment forces, which, as I have fully proved by the testimony of Nalson, 
Carte, Warner, and Leland, slaughtered men, women, and even chil- 
dren, indiscriminately. The detestable orders of the lords justices, to 
" kill all the men able to bear arms, in the places where the rebels 
were harboured," did but give ofhcial sanction to a system then in full 
operation. This system was a full warrant and justification of the 
slaughter of prisoners, in retaliation, and to arrest the progress of 
that horrible warfare. From the commencement of the insurrection, 
such had been the career of the armies of the government, who were 
taught by many of their fanatical preachers, that the Irish idolaters 
were to be served as the Canaanites were served by Joshua, the son of 
Nun. This was a doctrine held out distinctly, and acted upon by 
Cromwell and many of his precursors — " Cromwell," they say, 
" made his soldiers believe, that the Irisli ought to be dealt with as the 
Canaanites in Joshua's time." FAnderson's Royal Genealogies, 
786.] Tills accounts for cutting off " the nits as ivell as the lice.''' — 
Supra, 339. 

1 trust, if a ferocious enemy were to land on our shores, and to mur- 
der unoffending men, women, and children, there is no rational man 
who will deny, that we would not only be justified, but be imperiously 
called on by duty to ourselves, our wives, our children, and our country, 
to destroy them by every means we could devise, as so many wolves, 
or tio-ers. Warner offers a condemnation of the justices, which, though 
more brief than the occasion requires, is yet a justification of the re- 
taliatory of the system of the Irish. " Can any one read this order, 
and think that these justices had any reason to complain of the cruel- 
ties of the ignorant and savage Irish?" [Warner, 165.] 

I most earnestly request the reader's attention to the following state- 
ment, which I trust will place the conduct and character of sir Phelim 
in so strong and clear a point of light, as to insure a correct decision. 
On the 5th of November, 1G41, the Castle of Ballaghie surrendered 
to him, on terms of capitulation, which he honourably observed. The 
people were allowed to depart in perfect safety, and to carry away 

slay, and spared no man fit for rvar ! ! and so destroyed, or drove out of the' 
country, or into holes unknown, all the service, and fired the villages and cottages, 
and drove away and destroyed all their cattle ! I These things lasted from the 13^/j 
of Becember, 1644,^0 the end of January folloiuing ! /" — Rushwortii, V. 985. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 355 

trunks of plate and money. Had he been the lerocious and sanguinary 
ruffian he is represented, would he not have availed iiimself of this 
opportunity to gratify his tliirst of blood, and his lust of plunder, to 
which the strongest temptations were offered ? There cannot be a 
question on the subject. The most deadly and rancorous enemy that 
Ireland ever had, even Cromwell himself, if alive, were he to answer 
this question ingenuously, could not but answer in the affirmative. 

But it is triumphantly said, that on the I.5th, when he took the castle 
of Lurgan, on capitulation, he violated the terms — plundered the peo- 
ple — and killed or allowed to be killed several of the servants.* 

Light and darjvness are not more opposite than his conduct on the 
5lh and that on the 15th. This contradiction cannot be accounted for 
on any ordinary principles. Men's characters and conduct, though 
liable to occasional vicissitudes, do not change to such a degree in so 
short a space of time. Something very extraordinary, indeed, must 
have taken place, to transform an honourable man into a demon, as 
he would have been, were this act incapable of justification, or at least 
of very plausible palliation. All the Irish writers account for this 
change of conduct satisfactorily. They assert that this measure of 
severity was adopted in retaliation for a most horrible massacre per- 
petrated about the beginning of Noveml)er on the island of Magee, of 
three thousand, men, women, and children! On this ground the 
anomaly vanishes. A proceeding, which at the first blush appears to 
wear the aspect of the grossest inconsistency, and the most ferocious 
cruelty, on this explanation at once loses all its inconsistency, and as- 
sumes the aspect of rigorous and inflexible justice — a resort to the 
lex talionis, "an eye for an eye — a tooth for a tooth" — not on the 
offenders, who were wholly out of his reach — but on their friends, to 
arrest the career of murder. Here our path is straight and plain. 
Nothing is incoherent or irreconcileable to reason and common sense. 
On any other ground, we are in utter darkness. But Leland contends, 
that the massacre took place in the beginning of January — and he and 
Warner regard the numbers as greatly exaggerated — as the island could 
not support near so many persons. That a massacre was perpetrated 
there on the Irish, has never been denied for a moment, by any of the 

-— ■'►*?© ®*«**— 

* "On the ISth of November, the rebels, after a fortnight's siege, reduced the 
castle of Lurgan ; sa- William Bromley, after a stout defence, surrendering it on 
the terms of marching out with his family and goods : but such was the unworthy 
disposition of the rebels, that they kept him, his lady, and children prisoners ; rifled 
his house, plundered, stripped, and killed most of his servants ; and treated all the 
townsmen in the same manner. This was the first breach of faith, which the rebels 
were guilty of, at least in these parts," [there was then no other insurrection in any 
other parts of Ireland,] " in regard of articles of capitulation ; for when Mr. Con- 
way, on November the 5th, surrendered his castle of Bally-aghie, in the county of 
Derry, to them, they kept the terms fur -which he stipulated, and allo-wed him to 
inarch out -with his men, and to carrij atvay trunks -with plnte and money in them 
to Antrim ! Whether the slaughter made by a party from Carrickfergus, in the 
territory of Magee, a long narrow island, running from that town up to 01denfleet,in 
which it is affirmed, that near three tliousand Iiurinless Irish, men, -women, and chil- 
dren, luere cruelly massacred, happened before the surrender of Lurgan, is hard to 
be determined ; the relations published of facts, in those times, being very indistinct, 
und uncertain, with regard to the time when they were committed ; though it is 
confidently asserted, that the said massacre happened in this month of November." — 
Carti;, L 188. 



35C) VLNDICLE HIBERNIC.E. 

Anglo-lliberiiiau writers. Whether the number is exaggerated or not, 
makes no tlilTerence as to the measure of retaliation. Moreover, let 
it be observed, that it is not pretended that these murdered persons 
were inhabitants of the place. They were fugitives from the circum- 
jacent country, who had fled thitlier for refuge. But, 1 repeat, the 
number, whether correct, or too great or small, is unimportant. The 
date is the material point. Leland, to disprove the date, refers to the 
depositions in Trinity College, of which I have given specimens in 
Chapter XXX, and which are nearly all tales of what "one body heard 
another body say," and are not entiUed to any attention whatever, be- 
ing a mass of perjury and fraud. Carte, according to Leland, seen^ 
" to favour the opinion " of the massacre having taken place in the 
beginning of November. T present in the preceding note his state- 
ment of these events, which will pass with the reader for what it is 
worth. 

But the reason given by Warner and Leland for the ferocious pro- 
ceedings of sir Phelim O'Neil, generally, will not stand investigation, 
admitting them to be truly stated, without exaggeration, which, con- 
sidering the data on which they rest, cannot for a moment be conceded. 
Itis said that when he heard of any ill success of the Irish, he was trans- 
ported with fury, and ordered his prisoners to be murdered in violation 
of treaty.* Is it not, I repeat, infinitely more probable, that he had 
recourse to these sanguinary measures, that is, admitting he was guilty 
of them, as a retaliation for the slaughter perpetrated by the govern- 
ment fuices, than in consequence of defeat ? A recent writer presents 
the subject in so strong a point of light, that it cannot fail to make a deep 
impression on the reader — " Defeat and disaster would rather dispirit 
than brutalize — would rather produce kindness to prisoners, as a means 
of reconciliation, than cruelty, which would cut oft' all hopes of accom- 
modation." [O'Connor.] With this remark I leave the whole subject 
to the calm reflexion of the reader. 

The unceasing efforts that have been employed to stifle the truth, 
and to keep the world in a state of darkness, on the subject of the bar- 
barous carnage perpetrated on the Irish, are incredible. They have 
unfortunately been but too successful. One instance displays such 
profligacy, that it only requires to be stated, to excite the indignation 
of every honourable mind. 

The government forces in Ulster had committed some frightful 

* " Upon any ill success, he would in a fury order his prisoners to be murdered, 
or some act of barbarous cruelty and senseless vengeance to be done. In some of 
these frantic fits, ho caused Mr. Richard Blaney, knight of the shire of Monaghan, 
to be hanged in his own garden ; and the old lord Charlemont to be shot : in another 
when the rebels were repulsed in the attack of the castle of Augher, and several of 
the sept of O'Neil slain, he ordered Mulmory Mac Donnel, to kill all the English 
and Scots within the parishes of Mullebrack, Logilly, and Kilcluney ; in another, 
when he heard of the taking of Newry by lord Conway, he went in the beginning 
of May in all haste to Armagh, and in breach of his own promise under his hand 
and seal at the capitulation, murdered an hundred persons in that place, burnt the 
town and cathedral church, a venerable and ancient structure, said to be built by St. 
Patrick, and called by a name reverenced enough among the Irish, to have been an 
effectual protection to the fabric dedicated to his honour ; fired all the villages and 
houses in the neighbourhood, and murdered many of all ages and sexes, as well in 
the town a.s in the country round about." — Cauti, I. 176. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 357 

massacres of (lie liisli, o( which nn account was |)iil)li.shc(l in London. 
The House of Commons, actuated by the most rancorous spirit of hosti- 
lity towards tiie Irish, took the ahirm. They had the printers com- 
mitted to prison, without trial; ordered the book to be burned by the 
hands of the common hangman; and directed the Stationers' Company 
to seize all the copies that could be found, which were to be committed 
to the flames.* Thus early began the work of deception ; thus early 
was the veil thrown over the enormities of which the Irish were the 
victims ; and thus early were the streams of history poisoned by pub- 
lic authority. 

The foHowing extract from a most virulent book publislied in Lon- 
don, anno 1G47, affords a full display of the infernal spirit of rancour 
and malice that then prevailed in England against the Irish; and which 
will serve in some measure, to account for the butcheries of the St. 
Legers, the Monroes, the Cootes, the Iretons, and the Cromwells, as 
exhibited in the present chapter. 

" The Simple Cobler of Aggavvam in America. TV-illing to help ^mend his Na- 
tive Country, lamentably tattered, both in the upper leather and sole, ruith all 
the honest stiches he can take. And as willing never to bee paid for his work, 
by Old English wonted pay. It is his trade to patch all the year long, gratis. 
Therefore I pray, gentlemen, keep your purses. By Thoedore ds la Guard. In 
rebus arduis ac tenui spe, fortissima quseque concilia tutissima sunt.— ^CVc, 
In English. 

When bootes and ihoes are tome up to the lefts, 
Coblers must thrust their awles up the hefts. 
This no time to fear e Appelles gramm : 
Ne Sutor quidein ultra crepidam. 

London^ printed by J. D. <^- R. I. for Stephen Bowtell, at the sign 
of the Bible in Popcs-Head-'Mley, 1647. 

" A lOord of Ireland : Not of the Nation universally, nor of any man in it, that 
hath so much as one haire of Christianity or Humanity growing on his head or 
beard, but only of the truculent Cut-throats, and such as shall take up Amies 
in their Defence. 

"These Irish, anciently called Anthropophagi, man-caters, Have a Tradition 
among them, That when the Devil! shewed our Saviour all the kingdomes of the 
Earth and their glory, that ho would not show him Ireland, hut reserved it for 
himself: Tt is probably true, for he hath kept it ever since for his own peculiar; the 
old Fox foresaw that it would eclipse the glory of all the rest : he thought it wisdome 
to keep it for a Boggards for himself, and all his unclean spirits cniploycJ in this 
Hemisphere, and the people to doe his Son and Heirc, I mean the Pope, that service 
for which Lexvis the eleventh kept his Barber Oliver, which makes them so blood- 
thirsty. They are the very Offall of men, Drcgges of Mankind, Keproache of 
Christendome, the Bots that crawle on the Beasts taile. J wonder Rome it self is 
not ashamed of them. 

"J begge upon my hands and knees, that the Expedition against them may be 

— •••»•© «♦*••— 

*"June8, 1642, Ordered, That the book, intituled 'A True Relation of the 
Proceedings of the Scots and English Forces in the North of Ireland,' shall be tmrnt 
hy the hands of the common ha7igman, in the New Palace yard, at Westminster : 
and the master and wardens of the Company of Stationers are required to seize all 
such of these books as are any where to be had, that they may be burnt accordingly. 

" Resolved, That Robert White shall be forlh-with committed prisoner to the 
King's Bench prison, for printing and publishing of a scandalous libel, to the dis- 
honour of the Scots nation; and he be referred to to the King's Bench, to be pro^ 
ceeded with there according to law." — Journals, H. 619. 

45 



3r)S VlNDICLt: HIBEKNICE. 

iiiidertaken while the hearts and hands of our soldiery are hot, to whom J will be 
bold to say briefly : Happy is he that shall reward them as they have served us : 
and Cursed be he that shall doe that work of the Lord negligently ! Cursed be he 
that holdefh (lack- his Sxunrd from blood.'/.' yea, Cursed be he that maketh not his 
iS-u-urd stnrk-e dnink- with Irish blood! ! ! that doth not recompence them double 
for their hellish treachery to the English! that makeih them not heaps upon heaps!.' 
and their cnintry a dwelling place for Dragons, an Jistonishment to JVations ! 
Let not that eye look for pity, nor that hand be spared, that pities or spares them I 
and let Jam be accursed, that cnrseth them not bitterly !!! !" 

This work M'as received with such approbation, that it passed 
through several editions. When such Luciferian doctrines were ful- 
minated, coolly and deliberately, from tlie press, it is not wonderfel 
that they were carried into ferocious and sanguinary practice in the 
field of battle; and that " Z/ie nj7*" and "//le /ice" were slaughtered 
in one common mass. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 359 



nil AFTER XXX 11. 

Final siihju gallon of Ireland by Cromwell. The Irish extlrpafed ovt 
of Ulster, Leinster, and Miinster, and driven info ConnaKght. 
The maxhntmi price of the plundered lands to CrommeWs soldiers 
four shillings per acre! J 

" What one plunderer left, the next will seize." — Drtdkx. 

" The logic of a conquering sword may silence, but cannot convince." — Anon. 

The civil war, or rebellion, had raged for twelve years with a degree 
of violence never probal)ly exceeded in the annals of human wicked- 
ness. The most infuriate rage, resulting from religious bigotry, fana- 
ticism, the spirit of persecution, and national hatred, had laid the nation 
waste. A senseless spirit of faction, among the Roman Catholics, car- 
ried to the utmost excess — engendered principally by the intermeddling 
and turbulent spirit of the nuncio, Rinuccini, a serious curse to the 
nation — but fostered and fomented, with the most Machiavelian views, 
by the duke of Ormonde* — destroyed the energies of that body — 
prevented them from establishing the liberties of their country on a 
secnre basis — and laid them and their posterity prostrate at the feet of 
the most remorseless and unprincipled aristocracy, that ever cursed a 
nation. 

In 1653, the struggle was over. The butchery by Cromwell, at 



* Few men have been more extravaajantly eulo,'];-i7,ed than the duke of Ormonde. 
His merits tall far short of tlie panejiyrics of liis admirers. 'J'here is some reason to 
believe that he was attached to ('harles I. and yet it miifht be jiroved, and 
I shall perhaps, at a future day attempt to prove, that in all probability (..harles 
owed to his refined policy the loss of his crown and life, 'i'his would be travelling 
out of the record here — and therefore I waive it. I now confine myself to prove, 
from his own words, the deleterious policy he pursued towards the Irish, by sowing 
discord among them, even while he was nct^ociating a cessation of arms and a treaty 
of peace with them, according to the decided orders of Charles I. which he for a long 
time declined obeying — and finally obeyed only v\'hen it was too late to answer any 
purpose for his master. After the restoration, an accusation was broun;ht against 
hira, of having been on too friendly terms with the Irish clergy at the commence- 
ment of the insurrection. He exculpated himself by the declaration, that the mpasures 
he had then adopted, were merely for the purpose of sowing discord among them. 

" J\Ty aim ivas to -zvorlc a division anarrg- /he Hominh clerg-y .'.'/ and 1 believe 1 had 
compassed it, to the great security of the government and Protestants, and against 
the opposition of the pope, and his creatures and nuncios, if 1 had not been re- 
moved from the government, and if direct contrary counsels and courses had not 
been taken and held by my successors." — Cahtk, II. App. 101. 

Whoever reads this extorted confession with attention cannot fail to perceive that 
whatever may have been Ormonde's pretences of attachment to Charles, his Machia- 
velian course was admirably calculated to promote the views and secure the ultimate 
success of that monarcii's enemies in England, by depriving him of the [lowerfui aid 
he might have derived from the Irish had they not been embittered against each other 
by the duke'.s flagitious and too successful ])i>licy. 



3(;0 VINDICM^. HIBEKNK'.f:. 

Droglieda and Wexford, and some minor ones in other quarters, ]iad 
completely intimidated the Irish, so that they dared not make any 
further resistance, (yroniwell then proclaimed that the country was 
conquered, and proceeded to parcel it out among his friends and sup- 
porters. 

He had, like the loids justices, been in favour of a general extirpa- 
tion of the Irisli,'- but when it was finally in his power to accomplish 

* " They found the utter extirpation of the nation (which they had intended) to 
be in itself very difKcult, and to carry in it somewhat of horror, that made some im- 
pression upon the stone-hardness of their own hearts. After so many thousands 
destroyed by the plague which raged over the kingdom, by lire, sword, and famine ; 
and after so many thousands transported into foreign parts ; there remained still such 
a numerous pcojile, that they knew not how to dispose of: and though they were 
declared to be all forfeited, and so to have no title to any tiling, yet they must remain 
somewhere. 'I'hey therefore found this exjicdient, which they called an act of grace. 
There was a large tract of land, even to the half of the province of Connaught, 
that was separated from the rest by along and a large river, and which by the plague 
and many massacres remained almost desolate. Into this space and circuit of land 
they required all the Irish to retire by such a day, tinder the penalty of death ! .' .' 
and all who shoidd after that time be found in any other part of the kiiigdom, man, 
fvotnan, or child, should be killed by any body -who saw or met the??! ! ! ! '. The 
land -within iiiis circuit, the most barren in the kingdom ! was, out of the grace and 
mercy of the conquerors, assigned to those of the nation who were enclosed, in such 
proportions as might with great industry preserve their lives. And to those persons, 
from whom they hud taken great quantities of land in other provinces, they assigned 
the greater pro])ortions within this precinct ; so that it fell to some mens' lot, espe- 
cially when they were accommodated with houses, to have a competent livelihood, 
though never to the tifth part of what had been taken from them in a much better 
province. And that they might not he exalted with this merciful donative, it was a 
condition that accompanied this their accommodation, that they should all give re- 
leases of their former rights and titles to the land that was taken from them, in consi- 
deration of what was now assigned to them ! ! and so they should for ever bar them- 
selves and their heirs from ever laying claim to their old inheritance. What should 
they do 1 They could not be permitted to go out of this precinct to shift for them- 
selves elsewhere ; and without this assignation, they must starve there, as many did 
die every day of famine. In this deplorable condition, and tinder this consterna- 
tion, they found themselves obliged to accept or submit to the hardest coiiditions of 
tlieir conquerors ! ! ! and so signed such conveyances and releases as were prepared 
for them, that they might enjoy those lands which belonged to other men. 

" And by this means the plantation (as they called it) of Connaught was finished, 
and all the Irish nation enclosed within that circuit; the rest of Ireland being left to the 
English ; some to the old lords and just proprietors, who being all Protestants (for no 
Koman Catholic was admitted) had either never ofl'ended thein, or had served them, or 
had made composition for their delinquencies by the benefit of some articles ; and some 
to the adventuvorn and soldiers. And a good and great part (as I remember, the whole 
])rovince of Tipperary) Cromwell had reserved to himself as a demesne (as he called 
it) for the state, and in which no adventurer or soldier should demand his lot to be 
assigned, and no doubt intended both the state and it for the making great his own 
family. It cannot be imagined in how easy a methed and with what peaceable 
formalitv, tlus -udiole great kingdom was taken from tlie just lords and proprietors, 
and dix'ided a?id given amongst those, who had no other right to it but that they 
had power to keep it .' ! ! no men having so great shares as they who hud been in- 
struments to murder the king, and were not like willingly to part with it to his suc- 
cessor. Where any great sums of money for arms, ammunition, or any merchandise, 
had been so long due that they were looked upon as desperate, the creditors sub- 
scribed all those sums as lent upon adventure, and had their satisfaction assigned to 
them as adventurers. Ireland wan the great capital, out of wliich all debts were 
paid, alt services rewarded, and all arts of bounty performed .' ' ! " — t.'i.AUKNPON's 
Life, II. IIG. 



CHAPTER XXXri. ,301 

it, he slirunk from llie murderous scheme, whetlier from " compunc- 
tious visiliags of conscience," or from an apptehension of the conse- 
quences of driving tlie Irish to desperation, cannot now be ascertained. 
It is buried in eternal darliness. 

But lie determined to extirpate them from the three provinces of 
Ulster, Leinster, and Munster ; for the spirit of injustice and rapine 
which had predominated in Ireland, with unceasing violence from the 
era of the invasion, was in active and uncontrolled operation in the pre- 
sent case. The Irish Roman Catholics, as well those pronounced 
innocent by his tribunals, as those who had not been accused, and who 
of course had undergone no trial, were by a decree of complicated 
wickedness, expelled their ancient possessions, and driven into Con- 
naught, merely because they were "Irish Papists."* 

To the gentlemen of estates in those three provinces, he assigned 
portions of land in Connaught. But even these, small as they were, 
often only a fifth, or a tenth part of their ancient inheritance, they could 
not obtain, without signing releases for the lands of which they were 
robbed. 

The whole kingdom was then surveyed, or its extent estimated, and 
all those who had claims on the government, were paid out of the lands, 
the highest of which were estimated at four shillings per acre — and the 
lowest at a penny.t 

Against this wholesale spoliation, the Irish had no lemedy. They 
were forced to submit. And many men who had left splendid dwellings, 
rich demesnes, a numerous tenantry, and retinues of pampered ser- 
vants in their old provinces, were in Connaught obliged to derive a 
miserable subsistence from the cultivation of a few acres. 

A tribunal was erected by Cromwell and his followers for the trial 
of murderers and rebels ; and, notwithstanding tlie tremendous and 



* The marquess of Ormonde, in a speech to parliament, anno 16C5, draws a strong 
portrait of the wickedness of the Cromwellian courts of justice, and evinces the de- 
plorable condition of the Irish under their administration, and the barefaced robbery, 
of which they were victims : 

" All the designations of the usurpers towards a settlement were fitted to the estab- 
lishment and support of their own tyranny, and contrived with such a malicious 
negligence, that if it would not do that work, it was indiflerent to them, whether it 
could be useful to any other ; witness their giving no other reason for their takiiig 
cnvay men's estates, but that they luere Irish Papists ! ! Such was their bold con- 
tempt, not only of the essentials, but of the very formalities of justice.'" — Carti:, II. 
App. 33. 

■j- " After the subduing of Ireland, there was no small consultation, how to divide 
every one's portion. At last, at a council of war of all the chief commanders, lord 
Broghill proposed, that the whole kingdom might be surveyed, and the number of 
acres taken, with the quality of them ; and then all the soldiers to bring in their de- 
mands of arrears and so to give to every man, by lot, as many acres of ground, as 
might answer the value of their arrears. 

" This was agreed on; and all Ireland being surveyed, and the value of acres given in, 
tlie lugltest ivas vuhied only ut four sliillings the acre, and some only at a penny!!'. 
Accordingly they took the names of all that were in arrear, who drew lots in what 
part of the kingdom their portion should be ; and in this manner tlie whole kingdom 
-was divided among tlie conqiierors and adventurers iif money /.'/" — Orrery's 
Memoirs, I. 39. 



0C2 VINDICLT: HIBERNIC.f:. 

sickeninof acts of unlieard-of cruelties and massacres, said to have been 
perpetrated by the Irish, and notwithstanding likewise the perjury of 
the witnesses, the injustice of the courts, and the various disadvantages 
under which the accused must have laboured, from the demoniac rage 
of courts and jurors, there were but two hundred persons found guilty 
and executed — and however strange it may seem, it is nevertheless 
true, that in the province of Ulster, which, by all the writers on the 
subject has been styled the great scene of murder and massacre, tliere 
was scarcely condemned, but Phelim CNeil, 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 3(53 



PART IV. 

FROM 16G0 TO 1810. 

This division of the work embraces a most important period of 
Irish history, commencing with the restoration of Charles I., and ter- 
minating with the year 1810. I shall confine myself to four leading 
features of this period. 

I. The horrible injustice perpetrated on the Irish after the resto- 
ration. 

II. The surrender of Limerick, with the civil conditions under 
whicli tfie place was surrendered. 

III. The perfidious violation of those conditions, whereby the Ro- 
man Catholics were robbed and plundered of their estates ; deprived 
of their privileges as men; and reduced to a state of abject slavery, 
by the enaction of what Edmund Burke appropriately styled the "/e- 
rocious code of laws to prevent the growth of popery." 

IV. A sketch of the chief features of that vile code till lately in 
operation. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Restoration of Charles II. His base ingratitude. Horrible injustice. 
Bribery and corruption. Devouring lust of plunder. Five thou- 
sand Irish, who were plundered of their estates by Cromwell, de- 
prived of even a hearing, and all chance of redress. 

" When Ingratitude, 
That sin of cowards, once takes root, a thousand 
Base grov'ling crimes cling round its monstrous growth 
Like ivy to old oaks, to liide its rottenness." — Madden. 

" If there be a crime 
Of deeper dye than all the guilty train 
Of human vices, 'tis ingratitude." — Brooke. 

I NOW proceed to detail such scenes of fraud and villany — such 
utter disregard of even the form or shadow of justice, as are rarely 
paralleled, and imprint an eternal stigma on Charles II. his counsel- 
lors, the entire administration in Ireland, and most of the leading men 
in both kingdoms. 

Charles II. had, among the Roman Catholics, thousands of faithful 
subjects, who had fought his battles under Clanrickarde, Castlehaven, 
and Ormonde. Hundreds of them, with an ill-requited fidelity, had 



3jt VIJNDICLE HIBEltJN'IC.'E. 

Jbllowot! Ills b:uikiu[)t i'ortniK's on the continent, at an enormous and 
rninoiiM expense, in two several ypeeolies to parliament, immediately 
after liis restoration, he acknowledged his obligations, and appeared to 
liold out a pledge of a determination to discharge them.* And if there 
had been a spark of honour or gratitude in his composition, he would 
have sacredly guarded their rights, and at least secured tliem the horri- 
ble system of |)lunder of which they proved victims. But honour or 
gratitude formed no part of his character. 

I have shown in the preceding chapter, on the evidence of lord 
Clarendon, that the " whole great kingdom \^of Ireland^ was taken 
from the just proprietors, and divided amongst those who hud np 
other right to it, but that they had the power to keep it!!!'''' — and from 
tlie duke of Ormonde, that there was "no other reason given for 
taking away inen^s estates than that they were Irish Papists!!!'''' 
which, by the way, was one of the greatest possible crimes in that 
bigoted and fanatical age. 

Their estates were generally in the possession of the armies that 
had fought against Charles I. and no small portion of them were held 
by those who had sat in judgment on him. From the monarch the 
Irish had every thing to hope, at least the full measure of justice; and 
those by whom they had been spoliated, had no claim to any favour. 
Rigid justice was the utmost extent to which they could aspire. 

But the Irish were treated with the most revolting injustice — while 
their spoliators experienced indulgence, favour, and liberality. 

Charles I. was publicly and most justly charged in the prints of the 
day, with adopting the odious principle of conciliating his enemies, 
and trusting to the principles and affeclions of his friends. — Remarks 
on Burnet, 102. 

Whether he acted systematically on this maxim, it is not possible 
to ascertain — Init certain it is, that his conduct to the Irish, and to 
those who had deposed and beheaded his father, was in perfect con- 
formity with it. Hundreds of the latter were enriched by the spoils of 
the former. In proof of this disgraceful and dishonourable fact, we 
have the testimony of lord Orrery, who was one of the chief agents 
in the distribution of the plunder.! Against such evidence in the case, 
there can be no appeal. 



* " The king himself soon after liis restoration, in his speech to the parliament, on 
the 27th of July , l(3fiO, expresses himself in these words : "7 hope I need say nothi/ij 
of Ireland, and tluit they alone sliall not be xvithovt the benefit of my mercy ; 
tliey have shew\l much affection to 7ne abroad, and you ivill have a care of my 
honoicr, and of luliat I have promised tu them."" And again on the 30th of No- 
vember following, in his declaration for the settlement of Ireland, he says: "In the 
last place we did, and must always remember the q-reat affection a considerable 
part of that naiio)i e.rpress'd to us, during the time of uni- being beyond the seas, 
when with all cheerfulness and obedience they rcceiv'd and submitted to our orders, 
and betook themselves to that service, which we directed, as most convenient and 
behoofeful at that time to us, tho' attended with inconvenience enough to themselves. 
ir/iich demeanor of theirs can/iot but be thought very ivorthy of our protection, 
justice and favour." — Ireland's Case brieflj' s*,ated, 70. 

f " To be neglected was enough ; but to see the enemy triumph in their spoils, 
was more than nature could support. T/iere are 'nstances of some tvho were admit- 
ted into the royal presence and favour wii 'lout being totally free from the blood of 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 365 

A conspiracy of the Puritans took place in Dublin, in conjunction 
with some of the same party in England, in 1GG5, for the purpose of 
overturning the monarchy, and setting up a republican government. 
One of the leading conspirators being brought before lord Orrery, he 
reproached him and his party with their base ingratitude, in attempt- 
ing to overturn the government of a monarch, who had not only par- 
doned their rebellion, but rewarded their services in fighting against 
him, with the lands of those tvho had served him abroad.'!! History 
might be ransacked in vain to find any parallel to the baseness of this 
proceeding : — 

"I did, as well as I could, lay open to him the inexpressible mercj^ of his majesty 
to that vile party he had engaged himself with, 7iot only pardoning' to them their 
past crimes, but also giving t/iem the lands of many, ivliich hud served Jinder liis 
royal ensigjis abroad, to pay tlie arrears which liad been contracted against Ids 
service at home.' .'.' — OiiutuT, I. 238. 

Shortly after the restoration, an act of oblivion was passed, from 
which were excepted those who had an immediate hand in the late 
king's death, including Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw, and others, 
who, although dead, were attainted, and their estates forfeited. From 
the benefit of this act were "excluded all those persons who had any 
hand in plotting, contriving and designing the heinous rebellion of 
Ireland, or in aiding, abetting, or assisting the same," This was 
so interpreted, according to Leland, that " the whole Romish party 
ivas excluded.* Thus by an outrageous abuse of power, and an utter 
violation of the sacred maxim, whereby every man is presumed 
innocent, till he is proved guilty, the whole body of the Catholics, 
without distinction or exception, were presumed guilty, and put to 
the proof of their innocence. To aggravate the severity and injustice 
of this proceeding, the rules by which nocency was established were 
of the most iniquitous character.! One was, that every man who had 

— "rte ® &♦«• — 

the king !'.'. luhile they, ivho liad lavislied tJieir oivn in liis defence, -were suffered 
to starve on tlie pavement HI The estates of t/ie Irish wtio Iiad fovgfit for the 
king, and followed his fortunes in exile, were confirmed to drummers and sergeants 
ivlio had conducted his fattier to tlie scaffold !! !" — Remarks on Burnet, 103. 

* " In England, every rumour unfavourable to the Irish was received with peculiar 
avidity. Agents were sent from Ireland, who reported their conduct and designs with 
every offensive aggravation, so that before the landing of the king, lite act of indemnity 
was so prepared as to exclude all those who had any liand in plotting or contriving, 
aiding or abetting ttie rebellion of Ireland, by wtiicti ttie wtiole Romistt party were 
in effect excluded.'! and when, by another clause, it was provided that the act 
should not extend to restore to any persons the estates disposed of by authority of 
any parliament or convention, it was with some difficialty that an exception was in- 
serted ' that of the marquess of Ormonde, and other the Protestants of Ireland.' Some 
other provisoes were attempted, which must have utterly ruined all the old English 
families of this country ; but they were suspended, and afterwards defeated by the 
marquess." — Lelaxii, IV. 111. 

+ " No man was to be restored as an innocent Papist, who at or before the cessa- 
tion on Sept. 15, 1643, was of the rebels' party, or enjoyed tiis estate, real or per- 
sonal, in the rebels' quarters ! .' .' .' (except the inhabitants of Cork and Youghall, 
that were driven into those quarters by force,) or who had entered into the Roman 
Catholic confederacy before the peace of 1646. Whoever had at any time adhered 
to the nuncio or clergy's party, or papal power, in opposition to the king's authority, 
or, having been excommunicated for adhering to his majesty's authority, had after- 
wards owned his offence in so doing, and been thereupon relaxed from his excom- 

46 



3fir) VINDICLE HIBERNIC.E. 

enjoyed his estate in the rebels' quarters from the commencement 
of llie insurrection to the cessation, in 1(343, was, ipso facto, to be 
reo-arded as a rebel, and to be barred of all chance of recovering that 
estate ! 

Nothing- but the most rampant injustice and the most daring spirit 
of rapine could have devised such a rule. For the Roman Catholics 
of the pale, who had fled for refuge to Dublin, and freely tendered 
their services towards the suppression of the rebellion, had been ban- 
ished from thence to their estates " binder pain of death,'" and were 
therefore imperiously forced to proceed to a part of the country open 
to the rebels, and for a long time in their possession. It is difRcult.to 

munication : rvhoever derived the title to his estate from miy that died guilty of 
the aforesaid crimes, or pleaded the articles of the peace for his estate, or, living 
in the English quarters, held a correspondence with the rebels ; whoever, before the 
peace in 1646, or that in 1648, satin any of the confederate Koman Catholic assem- 
blies or councils, or acted upon any commissions or powers derived from them ; 
whoever employed agents to treat with any foreign papal power for bringing into 
Ireland foreign forces, or acted in such negociations ; or had harassed the country 
as tories before the marquess of Clanricarde left the government; -whoever came 
under any of these denomiiiations, ivas not to be deemed an innocent Papist ! ! .' 
One of these qualifications was certainly very rigorous, and the rigour of the law in 
many cases can hardly be distinguished from injustice. Abundance of Roman 
Catholics, well afi'ected to the king, and very averse to the rebellion of their country- 
men, lived quietUj in their own houses, ivithin the quarters of the rebels, who out 
of reverence to their virtues, or favour to their religion, allowed them to do so, though 
they never took arms or engaged in any hostile act in opposition to his majesty. 
Such of them as had offered to take shelter in Dublin were by ihe lords justices 
banished tlience on pain of deatli by public proclamation, and ordered to retire 
thence to their own houses in the country, where they could not help falling into 
the power of the rebels ; and if these suffered them to live there in quiet, an equita- 
ble man, who considers the circumstances of those times, and the condition of all 
countries that are in a state of war, will hardly see any such iniquity in the receiving 
of that mercy, or in the unavoidable necessity they were under of living in their 
own houses, as should bring upon those persons a forfeiture of their estates." — 
Carte, II. 220. 

" These were the most material of the rules which the commons desired might be 
imposed on the court of claims. There were some others calculated to gain time, 
and put hardships on the claimants ; as " that tipon affidavit being made of a 
viate7-ial -witness refusing or neglecting to co7ne in upon summons, such cause 
should be suspended ; that claimants should try their title to lands before they should 
be admitted to prove their innocency, and both these should be done before the 
defendant sliould be obliged to urge any crimination ! ! ! that persons provided for 
to be restdfcd by name to any estate, should not be allowed to claim it by innocency, 
or any other way than as mentioned in the clause for the nominees; and that no 
person claiming by innocency should be allowed to make any other claim, if adjudged 
nocent; that the claims of innocents be tried in the order of counties; and ;/ the 
lands claimed lie in several counties, the claimant nut to be lieard till ihe last 
county came to be adjudged ! ! .' and in case any person had put in a claim before 
the former commissioners, different from what he put in before the present, the best 
title for the king should be taken." — Idem, 204. 

" The qualifications of innocency required by those instructions, (particularly that 
•whereby living in the Irish quarters was to be deemed a proof of guilt,) had been com- 
plained of as too severe ; but as notwithstanding that severity, several of the Irish 
had proved their innocency, tlieir adversaries, -wliosc interest it ivas to involve 
t/iem alt withont exception in tfte common guilt, -were dcsirouS to add to the 
rigour of t/iose qaalif cations, aad to make tlie proof of nocency so easy and 
general, tliat none of tliat nation miglit be able to eucape censure, or save his 
tsiate ! .'" — idem, 363. 



CHAPTER XX.YIII. :>:C^7 

conceive of any Ihinp more flatritioiis, lliaii tliat tlie government slioiild 
])unish tliem with forfeiture of tlieir estates, for a course of conduct into 
whicli it had driven them, '■'■ vndcr pain of death.''''* 

One other item deserves serious consideration. Those who inherited 
estates of persons guilty of any of the crimes specified, among which 
" residence in the enemy'' s qiieirters^'' was one, Were to undergo the 
same penalties as if actually guilty themselves, that is, to forfeit their 
estates. Tlius, had lord Gormanston, lord Dillon, or lord Castlehaven, 
who were driven out of Dublin, "under pain of death," died in one 
or two months afterwards, and left an heir only a week old, by this vile 
regulation, that heir would incur a forfeiture of the estate, whatever 
might be its value ! ! 

But wicked as was tliis regulation, and destitute as were the framers 
of it, of even the slightest semblance of honour or justice, it formed but 
a minor part of the atrocity of the procedure. Severe as was this or- 
deal, great numbers passed it, and had some remnant of their estates 
restored. Had the court proceeded in the examination of the cases, 
thousands more would have had the same good fortune. But this would 
liave disap})ointed the views of those harpies who " hungered and 
thirsted" after the estates of the devoted Irish. To prevent this result, 
the cession of the court was limited to six months — and by artful 
management, the decision of the cases was procrastinated as far as pos- 
sible ; so that when the adjournment took place, in August, 1642, 
there were several thousand claimants, whose ceises were (ihsohctely un- 
heard, and who were forever barred from all chance of redress !!! ! 
Their estates remained in the hands of the regicides beyond the power 
of redemption. Thus did this base and perfidious monarch requite the 
eminent services rendered him by meritorious subjects; of whom he was 
vvholl)^ unworthy. 

The number of persons thus precluded from even a chance of jus- 
tice, is variously reported. A memorial presented to the government 
by the sufferers, remonstrated against the extreme hardship of the 
limitation, and praying for an extension of the time of the session of 
the court, states the number at 8000. — Carte, IT. App. 57. Sir 
Ileneage Finch, attorney-general, who replied to it, with a tissue 
of miserable sophistry, reduces them to 5000, \^Ibid.'] which is 
very probably far too few — as it was his province to diminish the 
grievance as far as possible. Ijeland says there were " more than 

• This atrocious act of injustice was defended in a tissue of fraud and falsehood 
by sir Heneage Finch, attorney-general at the time of passing the act of i!:ctt!e- 
inent : — 

" To have enjoyed a man's estate in the Irish quarters, was enough to make a 
man deUnquent. 'Tis true, there is such a ruie, and u very hard rule it seeiim to be. 
I remember it was long debated at this board, before that rule was put into the law. 
But the reason which prevailed for the inserting of it was this. Tliat the rebellion 
■was almost t-wenty years before tlie passing of the act ; and the Irish having tnur- 
dered all tlie English or driven them away ! ! ! it was not possible to find a 
•tvitness against some persons in a tchole barony. And it being certain no man 
could live quietly among the Irish, who did not comply with them, the very enjoy- 
ing an estate in those quarters -was left in tlie act as a mark of delinqnevcv / .' .'. 
—Ibid. 



368 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

3000 :"* on what authority he reduces the numheris not known. But 
it is improbable, it was less than the 5000 admitted by Finch. A me- 
dium between that number and the 8000 stated by the remonstrants, 
would probably be near the truth. But even allowing Leland's calcu- 
lation to be correct, who can think of the case without horror ! Three 
thousand persons robbed of their estates merely because they were "Irish 
Papists," and thus reduced to beggary, and debarred of all opportunity 
to assert their claims, and prove their innocence ! ! 

With all these resources for plundering the Catholics, their rapacious 
enemies were not satisfied. They had recourse to barefaced bribery 
and corruption. Lord Orrery and Lord Mountrath, raised a sum frona 
20 to 30,000/. sterling, to be distributed in London, among those who 
could advance '■'■ the English interest,''''^ Some part of this sum very 
probably found its way into the pockets of Charles IL whose " it chins; 
palm,^'' at a subsequent period, did not disdain to receive bribes, and 
to become a standing pensioner of Louis XIV. The following extract 
from a letter of lord Orrery, to the marquess of Ormonde, renders it 
certain, that the latter was deeply implicated in this nefarious trans- 
action. 

" I did forthwith give him notice thereof, and at the same time chid him soundly, 
for his unadvisedness in distributing such large sums of money tvithout your grace^s 
express orders, or at least permission and knoiuledge ; which, if allowed by your 
grace, must bring the names of some persons of honour upon the stage, or, if disal- 
lowed, must fall heavily upon his purse." — Orrert, I. 179. 

Sir James Shean, the agent appointed to distribute the bribes, in a 
letter to lord Orrery, magnifies his dexterity in the distribution of the 
money. 

" Only this is I do jissure your lordship for truth, that I was so wary as to pay the 

— •»►► © ® ©«*• — 

* "It was declared in the new bill, that the Protestants were, in the first place, 
and especially, to be settled, and that any ambiguity was to be interpreted in the 
sense most favourable to their interests ! It was also provided, that no Papist, ivho, 
by the qnalijl cations of the former act, liadnot been adjudged innocent, should at 
any future time be reputed innocent, or eiititled to claim any lands or setttements ! 
Thus, every remaining hope of those numerous claimants whose causes had not been 
heard, was entirely cut off. They complained of perjury and subornation in the 
causes that had been tried before the commissioners of claims ; though such wicked 
practices were probably not confined to one party. But their great and striking 
grievance was, that wore than tliree thousand persons were condemned, without the 
justice granted to tlie vilest criminals, that of a fair and equal trial. Of this 
number, though many, and probably the greater part, would have been declared 
nocent, yet several cases were undoubtedly pitiable ; and now, twenty only were to 
be restored by especial favour." — Leland, IV. 146. 

+ London was from this time the scene of disputes upon this affair; and thither 
agents were sent by the Irish to plead their cause; which they did under great dis- 
advantages. The earls of Orrery and Mountrath took care to raise privately among 
the adventurers and soldiers between 20 and 30,000/. to be disposed of properly, 
without any account, by way of recompense to sucfi as should be serviceable to 
the English interest .' '. The Irish had no such sums to command, few friends 
about the court, and no means of procuring any. The English nation had heard 
nothing of the rebellion, but what gave them horror, and possessed them with the 
worst opinion of the whole Irish nation. Those of the council before whom they 
were to plead their cause, knew little of the conduct of particular persons who de- 
served favour, but were ready to involve every body in tlie general guilt of the 
massacre, as well as the rebellion .' .' " — Carte, II. 233. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 369 

money by other hands than my own, and in such a way, that it cannot reflect upon 
any person, because I did give it as a present." — Ouheiit, I, 177. 

But all these stratagems and tricks, all this fraud and cunning, were 
not deemed sufficient. While negociation was pending in London, 
a proclamation was issued in Dublin, ordering the Irish who had been 
transported into Connaught, to return there, and not to cross the Shan- 
non!!!* under pain of imprisonment, and such further proceedings against 
them as the lords justices might think proper. The object of this was 
to prevent them from making any arrangements to promote the success 
of their applications. Their letters were opened, and every means that 
chicane could devise, was adopted to prevent their escape from the toils 
with which they were surrounded. f 

The duke of Ormonde, though on the whole an enemy of the Irish 
Roman Catholics, highly disapproved of the injustice of condemning 
them unheard, and debarring them of even a chance of redress. He 
proposed the appointment of a board, to be composed of the lord 
lieutenant and six of the privy council, who should be empowered to 
nominate such of the Irish with whose loyalty they were fully ac- 
quainted, who should partake of the same advantages as those who had 
passed the fiery ordeal of the commissioners. To this proposition no 
objection could be honestly made. But fair and honourable as it was, 
it was wickedly rejected. | 

Another trick employed to defraud the Irish was, to reserve large 

—•>»® ©»<•"• — 

*" Whereas by proclamation dated the 10th day of December, ICGI, it was for 
the reasons in the said proclamation expressed, dechired, and published, that all per- 
sons who had been transplanted, and had departed from the province of Connaught, 
or county of Clare, since they were transplanted (except such as arc particularly 
mentioned to be excepted in this said proclamation) should, by or before the last day 
of December last past, return back again to the same places to which they were 
respectively transplanted, and not to depart from thence, without special license in 
that behalf from the then lords justices, or other his majesty's chief governor or 
governors of this kingdom for the time being ; and that if after the said last day of 
December, any of the said persons (except before excepted) should be found without 
license, as aforesaid, in any part of this kingdom, other than in the said province of 
Connaught, or county of Clare, that then, and in such case, any one or more of his 
majesty's justices of the peace of the county, where such person or persons shall be 
found as aforesaid, were, by the said proclamation, authorised and required tu cause 
all and every such person or persons, to be apprehended and committed to the shire 
gaol, there tu remain until further express directions in that behalf from the said 
late lord justices, or other his majesty's chief governor or governors of this kingdom 
for the time being." 

+ " The severe laws and ordinances lately made against the Irish Roman Catho- 
lics in that kingdom were hereupon put in execution ; they -were not allowed to go 
from one province to another to trmisact their business ; abundance of them were 
imprisoned ; all tlieir letters to and from Dublin intercepted ; and the gentry for- 
bid to meet, and thereby deprived of the means of agreeing upon agents to talce 
care of tlieir interest, and of an opportunity to represent their grievances." — 
Catite, II. 206. 

t " To apply some remedy to the striking grievance of a number of Irish claimmits 
abandoned to nan, merely for the laant of the common Justice of being heard !! ! 
he [the Marquess of Ormonde] had proposed that the lord lieutenant and six of the 
privy council of Ireland, should be empowered to nominate such other persons as 
innocents, of whose constant loyalty they had suflicient knowledge, and who should 
be thus entitled to the same advantages with those who were pronounced innocent 
by the court of claims. But this proposal ivas rejected by the English council //.'.'" 
— Leland, IV. 142. 






370 VINDICI^E IIIBERNIC^. 

portions of lands not adjudged to any person, as reprisals for their 
friends, lest the lands allotted to tliem should prove inadequate to dis- 
charge their demands. Thus they rapaciously seized immense bodies 
of the best lands in Ireland.* 

The whole amount of lands regarded as forfeited, by the Down sur- 
vey, was about seven millions eight Inindred thousand acres !!! ] 
principally to the exclusion of the real proprietors ! The great mass 
of the lands fell to the share of the various descriptions of harpies, 
who were let loose to devour the unfortunate island ! 1 ! 

Had not the ruling powers been wholly destitute of all regard for 
justice, they might have satisfied the difierent classes of claimants,, 
without consigning so many thousands of the Irish to penury. Had 
they scrutinized with rigour the claims of the adventurers, the ofhcers, 
soldiers, and others, and, pruning off all that were exorbitant, re- 
duced them within proper limits, and rated the lands at fair prices, 
there would have been an ample fund, wherewith to content the suf- 
fering Irish. 

It is difficult for the reader to form an idea of the profligate mode in 
which the estates of tiie Irish nobility and gentry, were squandered 
away on the court minions and parasites — how wantonly and prodi- 
gally the projierty plundered from one set of subjects was lavished on 
another. The proofs are scattered over a large surface, and difficult at 
this distance of time and place to be gleaned up. They are only to 
be found by rigorous search and iuvestigation. Sir John Clotworthy, 
whose servant, O'Conally, was the agent employed to develop the 
sham plot of 1641, had, with some others, a demand on the government 
for 7000/. sterling, for which he received the princely estate of lord 
Antrim, of 107,611 acres, with all its improvements ! ! | That rs, at 
fifteen pence per acre 1 1 ! 

However incredible it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that the 
whole house of commons, with the speaker at their head, were profli- 
gate enough to wait on tlie marquess of Ormonde, lord lieutenant of 
Ireland, praying that all the examinations and depositions taken at any 
time respecting the rebellion, all the records of the courts, and all 
books, rolls, and writings remaining in any office, shoidd be received 
as proofs of the nocency of the parties implicated, and be a bar to their 

-—.>»e ©»«*.•— 

» " They had granted out all the lands appointed for reprisals to their own friends, 
under the notion of cautionarn reprisals, or reprisals de bene esse ! No practice 
could be more unwarrantable and irregular ; for there was not a word about cau- 
tionary reprisals in the declaration ; and yet under this palpable fraud, manifestly 
designed to obstruct justice, tite wlwle stocJc of reprisalle lands tecame vested in 
half a dozen persons / .' 7"hus the earl of Mountrath, and the lords Massareene 
and Kingston had got into fheir hands most of the lands in the counties of Dublin, 
Louth, and Kildare, and the barony of Barrymore ! !" — Caute, II. 230. 

f " Upon the final execution of the acts of settlement and explanation, it appears 
by the Down survey, that 7,800,000 acres of land were set out by the court of 
claims, principally, if not wholly, in exclusion of the old Irish proprietors."— New- 

I.NHAM, 172. 

^ \ " Lord Antrim's estate consisting of 107,611 acres, was allotted to [sir John 
Clotworthy, afterwards] lord Massareene, and a few other adventurers and soldiers, 
m consideration of their adventures and pay, xulddi did not in all exceed tlie sum of 
7000//.'.' Such excellent bargains had those people for their moncv."— Caute 
II. 279. ^ 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 371 

claims. This would include all the fabulous tales, of which I have 
given so many fair specimens in Chapter XXX. 

With what abhorrence must every honest mind regard that piratical 
body, who were so lost to all sense of decency and common honesty 
as to pray that those examinations and depositions on which above one 
thousand indictments were found in two days ; — that of dean Max- 
well, who swore to the ghosts screaming for revenge, and to the 
murder of thousands on hearsay ; — that of captain Stratford, who 
swore to the murder of hundreds, not one of which he pretended to 
have seen — and so many others, equally destitute of credibility ; that 
these, I say, should be received as evidence to bar honest men of their 
estates? * 

I have, I. repeat, made very few, scarcely any quotations from Roman 
Catholic writers — and none but what were corroborated by protestant 
authority. I now present one, from a work of great merit, " Ireland's 
Case briefly stated," which is a fair sample of the atrocious injustice 
perpetrated on the Irish — but, however vile, it cannot surprise us after 
the various details of the iniquitous system pursued on this occasion — 
and the rules laid down for establishing the nocency of the claimants. 

" Mr. Francis Betagh, of Moynalty, vehose ancestors, for seven or eight hundred 
years together, were in the possession of a considerable estate in the county of 
Meatli, was but nine years of age in October 1641 : yet he was sworn in the court 
of claims to have been then in actual rebellion, at the head of a foot company, 
plundering and stripping the Protestants, and that by two of the meanest scoundrels 
of the whole kingdom, hir'd for the purpose, whereof one was then and there prov'd 
not to have been three years old at the time of that insurrection, and the other no 
wa}'' qualified to be believ'd, when the gentry of the whole county declar'd and 
testified to the contrary. Nevertheless, upon the bare oaths of these fellows, the 
gentleman was adjudg'd nocent by the court ; and altho' the perjury was afterwards 
more fully detected, insomuch that sir Kichard Rainsford, chief commissioner or 
judge of that court, when the machioness of Antrim expostulated the case with him, 
plainly acknowledg'd the injustice of it, to herself, to the now earl of Limerick, 
and to other persons of quality ; yet no redress cou'd be had for the gentleman, nor 
any remedy to be' expected, while the enactment of the act of settlement was of 
force." — Ivdaiid's case brief y stated, 102. 

The increasing degeneracy of mankind is, and has at all times been, 
a fruitful theme witii moralists and theologians. From a perusal of 
their writings, it would appear as if every succeeding age became worse 
than those that preceded. According to this theory, mankind must 
ultimately become demons incarnate. The age of which I am writing, 
compared with the present, affords the most overwhelming refuta- 
tion of this doctrine. The contrast between the two is immense, and 

* " Any body that considers the methods used in the time of sir W. Parsons to 
get indictments found upon slight or no grounds, and without adhering to the usual 
methods of law, or the violence of the commissioners of claims in Oliver's time, or 
who has ever read the examinations and depositions here referred to, which were 
generally given upon hearsay and contradicting one another, would think it very 
hard upon the Irish to have all those, without distinction or examination, admitted 
as evidence, especially when by an act of state, after the restoration, they had been 
hindered from reversing their outlawries, and procuring redress in a legal way. Of 
the same nature was their next request, " that all the proclamations and acts of state, 
published by the lords justices before the cessation, and declaring any person a rebel 
and all orders of the house of commons since Oct. 23, 1641, for expelling any mem- 
ber, on account of his adherence to the rebels, might be taken for good evidence." — 
Idem, 263. 



372 VINDICLE HIDERNIC.E. 

wlioUy against the former. There is scarcely a page of the history of 
that period iincoiitaminated with vice and crime of the most revolting 
kind. Rampant injustice, rapine, and violence ! — forgery, perjury, 
bribery, and corruption — detestable and loathsome hypocrisy covering 
itself with the thread-bare cloak of religion, while violating every law 
of religion and morality, honour and honesty — all stalked abroad in the 
glare of day, and were all employed for tlie foul and detestable purpose 
of plundering a generous, but helpless and prostrate nation. Such pro- 
ceedings, I flatter myself, for the honour of human nature, would not 
at the present day be countenanced in the most corrupt quarter of the 
most corrupt country in the civilized, perhaps I might add the savage, 
part of the world. 



CHAPTER XXXiy. 373 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

The Stuart dynasty, a curse to the Irish. .Abdication of James If. 
TFar in Ireland. Grand exploit of Sarsficld in the destruction of 
a train of artillery. Surrender of Limerick. 

" The hisforiy nf Ireland''s unhappy connexion with England, exhibits, from 
first to laH, a detail of the most persevering, galling, grinding, insulling, and 
si/stejhatic oppression, to be found any where, except among the Helots of Sparta.'''' 
Paulding. 

No nation ever had more cause to curse a family than the Irish to 
vent maledictions on tlie miserable Stuart race, whose reigns produced 
an unvarying tissue of misery and wretchedness to that ill-fated nation. 
When a nation sulTers for some illustrious character, an Alfred, a Gus* 
tavus Vasa, a Prince of Orange, or a Washingon, there is some consola- 
tion, something to cicatrize the wounds. But every Irishman, who 
reflects on the character of the four Stuarts, who ruled over the three 
kingdoms, and considers their conduct to Ireland, must feel ashamed 
that his countrymen should have ever felt the least attachment to that 
miserable dynasty, commencing with the reign of the wretched pedant, 
James I.; the perfidious Charles I.;the ungrateful and libidinous Charles 
II.; and ending with the bigotted and infatuated James II. whose mis- 
rule has inflicted unutterable woes on his country. 

I have given ample details of the miseries of Ireland, under James 
I., Chai'les I., and Charles II. Its adherence to James II. filled up the 
measure of its miseries — overspread the land with havoc and slaughter 
— and produced another scene of rapine and confiscation of estates. 
James's abdication in England did not vacate his title to the crown of 
Ireland. The vote of the parliament of the latter inland, was necessary 
to extend the abdication there. No such vote was passed. And the 
Roman Catholics, the great body of the nation, fatally for themselves, 
determined to support him. 

A sanguinary war, of about three years duration, M-as waged, in 
which the English armies were generally victorious. In two destruc- 
tive battles, fought at the Boyne and at Aujjhrim, the Irish were sig- 
nally defeated with great slaughter. Many of the fortified towns were 
taken by the English forces. The siege of Limerick, the most im- 
portant by far, was undertaken about the close of the summer of 1691. 
The fortifications were almost impregnable — and were garrisoned by a 
numerous army. The commanders were brave and skilfid. There 
was scarcely a hope of taking the place by storm — and there -was no 
naval force, on the part of the besiegers, to enable them to effect such 
a blockade as might starve the garrison into a surrender. It was, more- 
over, abundantly supplied with provisions. To crown the difficuhies 
of the besiegers, a powerful force was daily expected from France. 

The English army was unprovided with a proper train of artillery; 
and had ordered a formidable one from some distant place, which wa» 

47 



374 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE. 

on its way' to, and within seven miles of, the English camp. A brave 
Irish parlizan officer, Lord Lucan, better known by the name of Patrick 
Sarsfield, whose glorious memory ought to be dear to every Irishman, at 
the head of a small select parly of troops from tlie garrison, met, sur- 
prised, defeated, and desiroyed the convoy, and took the whole train 
of artillery. Unable to convey it away, he had no choice but to des- 
troy, and render it useless to the enemy. He placed the cannon, with 
their muzzles in the earth, surrounded them with gunpowder, and by a 
train blew up the whole with a most tremendous crash. The officers 
of the besieging army, about seven miles distant from the scene, know- 
ing the enterprising spirit of the contriver of this coup de main, swore, 
when they heard the explosion, that it must be either Patrick Sarslield 
or the Devil, who performed the exploit ! 

Whatever chance the English might have had for the capture of the 
place, was thus annihilated. The prospect was, a tedious siege, lobe 
protracted into the winter season, or, what was still worse, a total defeat, 
if the French forces arrived. William was impatient to close ihe war, 
as all his energies and resources were in requisition for the war on the 
continent, where he had to contend with the best troops, the ablest gene- 
rals, and the most formidable monarchy in Europe. He tlierefore gsive 
peremptory orders to General Ginckle, who commanded the besiegers 
to close the war, by a treaty with the Irish commanders in Limerick on 
any terms.* Tliis was accordingly done on the annexed conditions, f 

* " Six weeks TveTc spent before the place, without any decisive effect. The gar- 
rison ■was -well supplied tuith provisions. Tliey tvere -well provided luith all means 
of defence. The season -was 7ioiv far ndvcniced, ihe rains had set in. The 
■winter itself -was near. Ginckle had received orders to finish the war upon any 
terms.**** **The English general ofTered conditions, which the Irish, had they even 
been victors, could scarce refuse with prudence." — Macpuerson, I. 621. 

"Many obvious reasons justified William for putting an end to the war upon mo- 
derate terms. Many millions had already been expended in the reduction of Ireland. 
Near 100,(100 men had been lost by sickness and the sword. The arm}', though 
victorious in the field, were exhausted wit/t fatigue. Winter was approaching. 
The siege of Limerick must in all probability have been raised, — a second disap- 
pointment before that place would have been equal to a defeat. The spirits of the- 
Irish would rise ; the French, encouraged by their success, would aid their allies 
with more clVcct." — Idein, 623. 

■j The Civil .Articles of Limerick. 

" William and Mary by the grace of God, &c. To all to whom these presents 
shall come, greeting. Whereas certain articles, bearing date the 3d day of October last 
past, were made and agreed on betv^een our justices of our kingdom of Ireland, and 
our general of our forces there, on the one part, and several officers there, command- 
ing within Ihe city of Limerick in our said kingdom, on the other part; Whereby 
our said justices and general did undertake that we should ratify those articles, within 
the space of eight months or sooner, and use their utmost endeavours that the same 
should be ratified and confirmed in parliament. The tender of which said articles 
is as follows, viz. 

I. The Human CatlioUcs of this kingdom shall enjoy sncli privileges i?i ihe ex- 
ercise of their relig/un, as are consistent -.viili t/ie Icrzvs of Ireland, or as they did 
enjoy in tlie reign of king Charles the second; and their majesties, as soon as 
their affairs will permit them to summon a parliament in this kingdom, will en- 
deavour to procure the said Jioman Catholics such further security in that par- 
ticular, as may preserve them from any disturbance upon the acconnt of their said 
religion. 

II. All the inhabitants or residents of Limerick, or any other garrison now in 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 376 

which were duly ratified in proper form, by king William and queen 
Mary. This solemn contract was, in all its important articles, basely 

— ■•>»©©&«" — 

the possession of the Irish, and a'l officers and soldiers, now in arms, under any com- 
mission of king James, or those authorized by him, to grant the same in the several 
counties of Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, and Mayo, or any of them ; and all the 
commissioned officers in their majesties' quarters, that belong to the Irish regiments 
now iu being, that are treated with, and who are not prisoners of war, or have taken 
protection, and who shall return and submit to their majesties' obedience ; and their 
and every of their heirs, shall hold, possess, and enjoy, all and every their estates 
of free/told and inheritance, and all the rights, titles, and interests, privileges and 
immunities, -which they, and every or any of them held, enjoyed, ur icere righifully 
and lawfully entitled to iu the reign of king Charles II. or at any time since, by 
the laws and statutes that were in force in the said reign of king Charles II. and 
shall be put in possession, by order of the government, of such of them as are in 
the king's hands, or the hands of his tenats, without being put to any suit or trou- 
ble therein ; and all such estates shall be freed and discharged from all arrears of 
crown-rents, quit-rents, and other public charges, incurred and become due since 
Michaelmas 1688, to the day of the date hereof: and all persons comprehended in 
this article, shall have, hold, and enjoy all their goods and chatties, real and personal, 
to them, or any of them belonging, and remaining either in their own hands, or the 
hands of any persons whatsoever, in trust for, or for the use of them, or any of 
them : and all, and every the said persons, of what profession, trade, or calling 
soever they be, shall and may nse, exercise and practise their several and respec- 
tive professions, trades and callings as freely as they did nse, exercise, and eiijoy 
the same in the reign of king Charles II. : provided that nothing in this article con- 
tained be construed to extend to, or restore any forfeiting person now out of the 
kingdom, except vrhat are hereafter comprised : provided, also, that no person xvhat' 
soever shall have or enjoy the benefit of this article that shall neglect or refnse to 
take the oath of allegiance,* made by act of parliament in England, in the first year 
of the reign of their present majesties, when thereunto required. 

III. All merchants, or reputed merchants, of the city of Limerick, or of any other 
garrison now possessed by the Irish, or of any town or place in the counties of Clare, 
or Kerry, who are absent beyond the seas, that have not borne arms since their 
majesties' declaration in February 1688, shall have the benefit of the second article, 
in the same manner as if they were present : provided such merchants, and reputed 
merchants, do repair into this kingdom within the space of eight months from the 
date hereof. 

IV. The following ofticers, viz. colonel Simon Lutterel, captain Rowland White, 
Maurice Eustace of Yermanstown, Chievcrs of Maysiowii, comrnonly called Mount- 
Leinster, now belonging to the regiments in the aforesaid garrisons and quarters of 
the Irish army, who are beyond the seas, and sent thither upon affairs of their respec- 
tive regiments, or the army in general, shall have the benefit and advantage of the 
second article, provided they return hither within the space of eight months from the 
date of these presents, and submit to their majesties' government, and take the above' 
mentioned oath. 

V. That all and singular the said persons comprised in the second and third arti- 
cles shall have a general pardon of all attainders, outlawries, treasons, misprisons of 
treason, premunires, felonies, trespasses, and other crimes and misdemeanours what- 
soever, by them, or any of them, committed since the beginning of the reign of king 
James II. and if any of them are attainted by parliament, the lords justices, and 
general, will use their best endeavours to get the same repealed by parliament, and 
the outlawries to be reversed gratis, all but writing-clerks' fees. 

VI. And whereas these present wars have drawn on geat violences on both 
parts ; and that if leave were given to the bringing all sorts of piivate actions, the'ani- 

*I, A. B. do sincerely promise and sivear, that I -will be faithful, and bear true allO' 
glance to their majesties, king William and qneen jyiary. So help me God. 



376 VINDICLE HIBEKNIC.E. 

and perfidiously violated, by almost every parliament that sat in Ireland 
for sixty years, by the laws to prevent the growth of popery, of which 

— »»9©®«"— 

mosities would probably continue that have been too long on foot, and the public 
disturbances last : for the quieting and settiinir therefore of this kingdom, and avoid- 
ing those inconvcniencics which would be the necessary consequence of the con- 
trary, no person or persons whatsoever, comprised in the foregoing articles, shall be 
sued, molested, or impleaded at the suit of any party or parties whatsoever, for any 
trespasses by them committed, or for any arms, horses, money, goods, chatties, 
merchandises, or provisions whatsoever, by them seized or taken during the time 
of the war. And no person or persons whatsoever, in the second or third articles 
comprised, shall be sued, impleaded, or made accountable for the rents or mean rents 
of any lands, tenements, or houses, by him or them received, or enjoyed in this 
kingdom, since the beginning of the present war to the day of the date hereof, nor 
for any waste or trespass by him or them committed in any such lands, tenements, 
or houses : and it is also agreed, that this article shall be mutual and reciprocal on 
both sides. 

VII. Every nobleman and gentleman, comprised in the said second and third 
articles, shall have liber ly to ride -with a sword, and case of pistols, if they think 

Jit ; and keep a gun in their houses, for the defence of the same, or for fuivling. 

VIII. The inhabitants and residents in the city of Limerick and other garrisons, 
shall be permitted to remove their goods, chatties, and provisions, out of the same, 
without being viewed and searched, or paying any manner of duties ; and shall not 
be compelled to leave the houses or lodgings they now have, for the space of six 
weeks next ensuing the date hereof. 

IX. The oath to be administered to such Roman Catholics as submit to their ma- 
jesties' government, shall be the oath abovesaid, and no other, 

X. No person or persons who shall at any time hereafter break these articles, or 
any of them, shall thereby make, or cause any other person or persons to forfeit or 
lose the benefit of the same. 

XI. The lords justices and general do promise to use their utmost endeavours, 
that all the persons comprehended in the above-mentioned articles, shall be protected 
and defended from all arrests and executions for debt or damage, for the space of 
eight months next ensuing the date hereof. 

XII. Lastly, the lords justices and general do undertake that their majesties will 
ratify these articles within the space of eight months, or sooner, and use their utmost 
endeavours that the same shall be ratified and confirmed in parliament. 

For the true performance hereof, we have hereunto set our hands. 

Char. Pohter, 
Tho. Coningsby, 
Bau. De Gixcele- 

" And whereas the said city of Limerick hath been since, in pursuance of the said 
articles, surrendered unto us : Now know ye, that we having considered of the said 
articles, are graciously pleased hereby to declare, that we do for us, our heirs, and 
successors, as far as in us lies, ratify' and confirm the same, and every clause, matter, 
and thing, therein contained. And as to such parts thereof, for which an act of par- 
liament shall be tbund to be necessary, we shall recommend the same to be made 
good by parliament, and shall give our royal assent to any bill or bills that shall be 
passed by our two houses of parliament to tiiat purpose. 

" Provided always, and our will and pleasure is, that these our letters patent shall 
be enrolled in our court of chancery, in our said kingtiom of Ireland, within the 
space of one year next ensuing. In witness, &c. : witness Ourself at Westminster 
the twenty-fourth day of February, anno regni regis et reginae Gulielmi et Marisa 
quarto per brave de privato Sigillo. Nos autem tenorem premissor. predict, ad 
requisitionem attornat. general, domini regis et dominae reginae pro regno Hiberniae. 
Duximus exemplificand. per presentes. In cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras 
fieri fecimus patentas. Testibus nobis ipsis apud Westmon. quinto die Aprilis, annoq. 
regni eorum quarto. BRIDGES. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 377 

I shall present a sketch in the succeeding chapter, and which, for atro- 
cious and rampant injustice, might challenge comparison with any buc- 
caneer code ever enacted. These laws left the Catholics a defenceless 
prey, to the oppression, insult, and outrage, of their fellow-subjects, for 
nearly a century. 

It ouglit to be observed, that the French reinforcements actually 
arrived, to a most formidable extent, a few days after the capitulation 
took place. 



378 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC^. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Means by ivhich'suhJKgated countries are held in chains. Protestant 
ascendency. Laws to prevent the growth of Popery. Ji code of 
demoralization, tyranny, oppression, rapine, and murder. Rob- 
bery of father, mother, sister, and brother, invited l)y acts of par- 
liament. Prohibition of education. Horse thieves excited and 
protected by law. 

•' TVIien those laws [the popery laws] were not hloocly, they icere worse. They 
were slow, cruel, outrageous in their nature, and kept men alive, only to insult in 
their persons every one of the rights and feelings of humanity.'''' — Burke. 

" Froiestajit ascendency is neither more nor less than the resolution of one set of 
people in Ireland, to consider themselves as the.sole citizens in the commonwealth — 
and to keep a dominion over the rest by reducing them to absolute slavery, under a 
military 2^oioer.'^ — Idem, V. 239. 

In every subjugated country, there is always a small body of the 
natives, who make a regular contract, not written, but well understood,, 
and duly carried into effect, by which they sell the nation to its oppres- 
sors, and themselves, as slaves, for the sorry privilege of tyrannizing 
over their fellow slaves. This has ever been the surest foundation on 
■which the dominion of one country over another is perpetuated. The 
base and miserable oligarchs, who subserve the interests of the ruling 
nation, indemnify themselves from the chains which they drag about, 
by the superior weight and pressure of those they impose. 

When the English Henries overian and subdued France ; had the 
crown placed on their heads, in Paris ; and enjoyed a flattering pros- , 
pect of permanently securing its descent to their posterity, it was not 
through the force of English skill or English valour, though both were 
of ihe highest grade at that period, that they achieved the conquest. 
They had at all times in their armies hosts of traitorous Frenchmen, 
who paved the way for the conquest and slavery of their country. Such, 
too, was the Roman policy, — sucli the means whereby that all-grasp- 
ing and devastating government extended its tyrannical empire over the 
then known world. 

But the case of Ireland is probably among the most forcible illustra- 
tions of this maxim that history afl'ords. A herd of wretched oligarchs 
for centuries existed there, who bartered their country's dearest rights 
and interests, for the privilege of trampling down their countrymen, 
over whom they exercised the most galling tyranny tliat the mind of 
man can conceive. 

This oligarchy, " The Protestant ascendency," was composed of the 
professors of the established religion. Its oppression has always ex- 
tended over the Protestant dissenters, as well as over the Roman 
Catholics ; but with very great disparity of effect. The principal 
grievance of the Protestant dissenter, which he bore in common with 
the Catholic, is, that he was obliged to support the ministers of two 
different religions, — his own and the dominant one. In other repects 



CHAPTER XXXV. giyg 

he stood on nearly the same groimd as the professor of the established 
religion. 

The tyranny exercised by this oligarchy over the Catholics, dis- 
played itself in the form of a barljarous code of laws, the professed 
object of which was " to prevent the growth of Popery ;"* but the real 
one, was, to plunder those on wlioin tiiey were to operate, of their pro- 
perty, and to divest them of their most sacred rights and privileges; 
and the direct effect of which has been lo demoralize the nation ; to 
reduce it to a state of the most deplorable wretchedness and misery, not 



• " I think I can hardly overrafe the malignity of the principles of Protestant 
ascendency, as they affect Irekairl." — Burkk, V. 232. 

" .^ CO intvy, I believe, siiice the world begun, suffered so mncJi on acconni of 
religion." — Idem, 2i:i. 

" We found the people heretics and idolaters ; we have, by way of improving their 
condition, rendered them slaves and beggars. They remain in all the misfortune 
of their old errors, and all the superadded misery uf their recent punishment," — 
Idem, 211. 

" They divided the nation into two distinct parties, without common interest, 
sympathy, or connexion. One of these bodies -was to possess all the francliises, 
all the property, all tlie education. The other tvas to be composed of drawers of 
•water ajid cutters of turf for tliem " — Idem, III. 452. 

" Every measure was f)Ieasiug and popular, just in proportion, as it intended to 
harass and ruin a set of people, wlio were looJced upon as enemies to God and man ; 
and indeed as a' race of bigoted savages, who were a disgrace to liuman nature 
itself"— Ucm, 473. 

The code against the Roman Catholics " was a machine of wise and elaborate 
contrivance ; and as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment, and degrada- 
tion of a people, and the deliasement in litem of human nature itself, as ever pro- 
ceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man." — Idem, 495. 

"To render men patient under a deprivation of all the rights of human nature, 
every thing which could give them a knowledge or feeling of those rights was ration- 
ally forbidden. To render humanity lit to be insulted, it was ft that it should be 
degraded." — Idem, 438. 

"J et three millions of people but abandon all that they and their ancestors have 
been taught to believe sacred, and foresxuear it publicly, in terms the n.ost degrad- 
ing, scurrilous, a7id indecent, for men of inte:(rity and virtue, and abiise tlie whole 
of tfieir former liyjes, and slander the education they have received : and nothing 
more is required of them. There is no system of folly, or impiety, or blasphe7ny, 
or atlieism, into whicfi tfiey may iiot throw tliemselves, and wldcli tliey may not 
profess openly and us a sf/.s^eni, consistently with the enjoyment of all the privileges 
of a free citizen in the happiest c'onstitution in the world." — Idem, V. 242. 

" No condescension was excessive which could purchase for tlie Protestants of 
Ireland tlie tincontrolled indulgence of their hatred. They did not hesitate to 
fall, like Samson, beneath the temple, provided the same ruiii might become fatal 
to their adversaries : nor, in the warmth of zeal against Popery, did they recollect 
that the freedom and commerce, which, with so much solicitude, they rejected, might 
not perhaps appear equally unacceptable to their children. After having hazarded 
the possession of every object that can make life precious, to avoid the probability of 
slavery, they shaped for themselves a bondage which the most hardy tyrant could 
scarcely venture to propose; and resigned, by an "awful interdict " every inter- 
course with the rest of mankind, whilst, in the narrow compass which remained, 
they might wanton in the unconstrained enjoyment of revenge. Content to con- 
vert their country into one vast prison, if they could find within its bosom a dun- 
geon still more hidious for their unhappy captives." — Review of some Interesting 
Periods of Irish History, 36. 



380 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 

exceeded throughout the wide world ; and to legalize an odious system 
of rapine and fraud. 

" Just Alia ! what must be thy look, 

When such a wretch before thee stands, 
Unblushing, with thy Sacred Book, 

Turning the leaves with blood-stain'd hands, 
And wresting from its page sublime 
His creed of lust and hate and crime ! 
Ev'n as those bees of Trebizond, 

Which, from the sunniest flowers that glad. 
With their pure smile, the gardens round, 

Draw venom forth, that drives men mad ! " — Lalia Rook.f., 

This odious and oppressive system was above half a century in 
matuiiiio". Hardly a session of the Irish parliament took place, in 
which there was not devised some new penally, some new forfeiture, 
or some new disqualification, to crush, to prey on, and to immolate 
the wretched Roman Catholics. The utmost ingenuity of fraud and 
rapine was constantly tortured, to add to the weight of their clanking 
chains. 

Tlie intrinsic wickedness of this code, would be sufficient to entitle 
its authors to be recorded in the annals of infamy, as long as time shall 
endure. But its turpitude is greatly enhanced by the consideration, 
that it was a flagrant and perfidious violation, not merely of the spirit, 
but of the letter of the articles for the surrender of Limerick, as stated 
in the preceding chapter, by which the Roman Catholics were to be 
secured in all the privileges they enjoyed in the reign of Charles II. 
Still further to aggravate its baseness, if aggravation were possible, the 
government was not only thus pledged sacredly to secure them what- 
ever they had enjoyed, but the king and queen bound themselves in 
the most solemn manner, to " endcuvoitr to procure them such further 
security as might preserve them from any disturbance upon the 
account of their religion." Far from procuring '■\furtlier security,'''' 
the iew barriers that existed to " secure them from disturbance,'''' were 
prostrated, and they were exposed, defenceless, to the mercy of the 
worst of their fellow-subjects, by whoin they were, for sixty or seventy 
years, outraged, oppressed, and most piratically plundered of their 
estates by all the chicane and fraud to which this detestable code held 
out so powerful an invitation. 

When one of the earliest laws of this code was read for the last time 
in the Irish house of lords, fourteen peers, whose names ought to be 
rescued from the infamy attached to those who sanctioned it, entered 
their protest against it as fraudulent and perfidious.* 

—"►»©©*«" — 

* Protest as:ainsf the act to confirm the .Articles of Limerick. 

" Eesolved on the question, " that the ingrossed bill sent up by the commons, in- 
titled an act for the confirmation of articles made at the surrender of .the city of 
Limerick, do pass into a law." 

" Ordered on motion, that such lords as please may enter their protest to the last 
foregoing vote, with their reasons. 

" WE the lords spiritual and temporal, whose names are hereafter subscribed, do 
dissent from the aforesaid vote, and enter our protest against the same for the 
reasons following : 

" L Because we think, tlic title of tlie bill doth not agree with the body thereof, 



CHAPTER XXXV. 881 

Various causes conspired to produce the salutary effect of mitigating 
the severity of tliis vile code. TJie first stroke it received arose from 
the spirit of volunteering in Ireland, a consequence of the declared in- 
ability of the British government to protect that country, during the 
war against the United States, France, Spain, and Holland. Every 
description of religionists mixed in the ranks of the volunteers, which 
engendered an enlarged and liberal spirit of national feeling. The Irish 
Catholic and the Irish Protestant, as well as the Protestant dissenter, 
were amalgamated into one solid mass of friends to their common 
country. Many links of the chains of the nation at large, as well as 
of the proscribed Catholics, were then knocked off. The increasing 
liberality of the age has successively removed others. All that remained 
at the time when this work was written [1819] have since been re- 
pealed through the zeal, perseverance, and talents of Daniel O'Connell. 

It may be thought a work of supererogation, at this time, to revive 
the remembrance of a code so odious, so detestable, and so infamous. 
But this work would be very incomplete, and tlie reader would have a 
very imperfect idea of the state of Ireland, and the horrible tyranny 
under which the mass of the population has groaned, did I not give 
some sketch of this system. 

It is right and proper to record the atrocious code, so that its authors 
and abettors may be held up to undying infamy, as men equally destitute 
of honour and justice with Kid, Morgan, and Blackboard. 



All Roman Catholic archbishops, bishops, vicars-general, deans, or 
any other persons of that religion, exercising ecclesiastical jurisdic- 
tion, were liable to imprisonment and transportation ; and, in case of 

— •i»»©®ft««— 

the title being an act for the confirmation of articles made at the surrender of 
Limerick, whereas no one of the said articles is therein, as tve conceive, fully 
co7i^rmed. 

" If. Because the said articles were to be confirmed in favour of them, to whom 
they were granted. But the confirmation of them by the bill is such, that it puts 
them in a tvorse condition, than they ivere before, as we conceive. 

" III. Because this bill omits these material words " and all such as are under 
their protection in said counties," which are by his majesty's letters patent, declared 
to be part of the 2d article, and several persons have been adjudged within the said 
2d article, by virtue of the aforementioned words. So that the words omitted, being 
so -very matei-ial, and confirmed by his majesty, after a solemn debate, as we are in- 
formed, some express reason, as we conceive, ought to have been assigned in the bill, 
in order to satisfy the world as to that omission. 

" IV. Because several words are inserted in the bill, which are not in the articles ; 
and others omitted, which alter both the sense and meaning of some parts of the 
articles, as we conceive. 

" V. Because we apprehend, that many Protestants may and will suffer by this 
bill in their just rights and pretensions, by reason of their having purchased, and 
lent money upon the credit of the said articles ; and, as we conceive, in several other 
respects. 

LONPOXDEBBT, JoHN OsSOBT, 

Ttroxk, Thomas Limehick, 

DuNCANNOx, Thomas Kili.ai,oe, 

S. Elpkin, Kebut, 

W^iLL. Debut, Howtii, 

Will. Clovekt, Kingston, 

W. Killala, 8rRAnA>E. 

48 



382 VIJVDICIJ3 HIBEKNIC.E. 

returning, were guilty of high treason, and ivere to be punished 
accordingly * 

In the year 1704, a law was passed, ordering all the Roman Catho- 
lic priests in Ireland to i*egister themselves in the parishes to which they 
respectively belonged ; and to give security for their good behaviour, 
and for their non-removal from the county where they then resided. f 

When a priest officiated in any other parish than the one wherein he 
was legistered, he was liable to transportation; and, in case of return, 
to he hanged withiul benefit of clergy ! ! J 

Every Roman Catholic clergyman in the kingdom not registered ;§ 
every one afterwards coming into it from aliroad ;^ every one wl\o 
kept a curate or assistant ;** and every such curate or assistant, || was 
also liable to transportation, and eventually to the gallows, if he re- 
turned. 

Two justices might summon any Roman Catholic, sixteen years old, 
to appear before them, 1o give testimony when and where he heard 
mass; who were present, and who celebrated it; and all such other 
matters and things, touchino: the priest, as might be necessaiy to his 
conviction. In case of refusal, he was subject to a fine of twenty 
pounds, or imprisonment for one year. — Robins, 462. 

Any Roman Catholic priest, celebrating marriage between two Pro- 

— "»»e 6 a 

* " All Popish archbishops, bishops, vicars-general, deans, Jesuits, monks, friars, 
and all other regiilur Popisti clergy, and all Papists exercising any ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction, shall depart this kingdom before the first of May, 1698. And if any 
of them shall he, at any time after the said day, within this kingdom, tliey sliall be 
imfyrisoned and remain t/iere -without hail till they be transported beyond the seas, 
out of the king's dominions, wherever the king, his heirs or successors, or chief 
governors of this kingdom shall think fit ; and if any so transported shall return 
agaiii into this kingdom, tlien to be guilty of /ligh treasoji, and to suffer accor-d- 
inglyy — RoBiNs's Abridgment of the Irish Statutes, 451. 

■j- " Every Popish priest, who is now in this kingdom, shall at the next quarter ses- 
sions, to be held in the several counties, or counties of cities or towns, next after the 
feast of St. John Baptist, 1704, return his name and place of abode, together with his 
age, the parish of which he pretends to be Popish priest, the time and place of his 
receiving Popish orders, and from whom ; and shall then enter into recognizance, 
with two sufficient sureties, each in the penalty of fifty pounds, to be of peaceable 
behaviour, and not remove out of such county where his abode is, into any other 
part of this kingdom." — Idem, 4.58. 

t " No Popish priest shall exercise the function or office of a Popish priest, but 
in the parish where the said Popish priest did officiate at the time of registering the 
Popish clergy, and for which parish also he was registered, and in no other parish 
whatsoever, under the penalties as any Popish regular convict is liable unto.'" — 
Idem, 464. 

§ " Every person whatsoever, exercising the office or function of a Popish priest, 
found in this kingdom, after the 24th of June, 1705, other than such as are regis- 
tered pursuant to the above act shall be liable to such penalties, forfeitiires, and 
punishments, as are imposed on Popish archbishops, bishops, &c ! ! " — Idem, 459. 

T "Every Popish clergyman coming into this kingdom after the 1st of January, 
1703, shall be liable to such penalties, forfeitures and punishments as are imposed on 
Popish archbishops, bishops, &c. ! I " 

♦* "Every Popish parish priest, that shall keep any Popish curate, assistant, or 
coadjutor, shall lose the benelit of having been registered, and shall incur all tlie 
penalties nf a Popisti regular, and shall be prosecuted as such ! || and every such 
Popish curate, assistant, or coadjutor shall be deemed as a Popish regular, and 
prosecuted as st/ch .' " — Idem, 462. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 383 

testants, or between a Prolestant and Roman Catholic, was guilty of 
felony,* and liable to suffer death without benefit of clergy ! 

No Roman Catholic was allowed to have in his own possession, or 
the possession of any other person for his use, any horse, mare, or 
gelding, of the value of five pounds. f Any protestant, discovering to 
any two justices that a Roman Catholic had a horse of that value, 
might, with a constable and assistant, break open any door; seize 
such horse ; bring him before the justices ; and, on paying five pounds 
five shillings, have the property of such horse, " as if bought in mar- 
ket overt ! !"§ 

Any person concealing such horse, was liable to be imprisoned three 
months, and pay treble the value ! — Robins, 451. 

Civil officers were authorized to seize the horses of Roman Catho- 

• " If any Popish priest, or reputed Popish priest, or any person pretending to be 
a Popish priest, or any degraded clergyman, or any layman pretending to be a cler- 
gyman of the church of Ireland, as by law established, shall, after the 2.'ith day of 
April, 1726, celebrate any marriage bet-ween two Protestants, or reputed Protes- 
tant, or betiveen a Protestant or reputed Protestant and a Papist, such Popish 
priest, &c. shall be ffuilti/ of felony, and shall suffer death as a felon, witlwut bene- 
Jit of clergy, or of the statute .'.' .'"\ — Robixs, 388. 

f "No Papist, after the 20th of January, 1695, shall be capable to have, or keep 
in his possession, or in the possession of any other, to his use, or at his disposition, 
any hone, gelding, or mare, of tlie value of 51. or more ; and if any person of the 
Protestant religion, shall make discovery tliereof upon oath, to any two justices of 
the peace, or to the chief magistrate of any city or town corporate, they may within 
their respective limits, by warrant under their hands and seals, authorize such per- 
son, in the day-time only, to search for and secure all such horses: and in case of 
resistance, to break open any door, and bring snch horse or horses before tliem, and 
such discoverer (being of the Protestant rehgion), paying or making tender, before 
such justices, mayor, «Scc. of the sum of 5/. 5*. to the ov^ner or possessor of such 
horse, after such payment, or tendci and refusal, the property of such horse or horses, 
shall be nested in tlie person making such discovery and tender, as if the same had 
been bought and sold in market overt." — Ide?n,.4:50. 

§ This clause had nearly proved fatal to a rascal who took advantage of it, about 
forty years since. He forcibly seized a horse, saddled and bridled, belonging to a 
Roman Catholic. But, though the law sanctioned the robbery of horses, it did not 
'authorize that of saddles and bridles. The villany excited universal indignation 
among the liberal Protestants. The felon was prosecuted for the robbery of the 
saddle and bridle, and narrowly escaped the gallows, which he richly deserved. One 
other circumstance, arising from this law, may merit attention. A Catholic, who 
owned one of the most celebrated racers in Ireland, worth two hundred guineas, being 
informed that a person was about to seize him, and pay him the price fixed by law, 
mounted the horse, and presented him to a Protestant friend ; thus defeating the 
miscreant of his vile purpose. 

^ When very young, I distinctly understood, that a Protestant, of (he name of Wal- 
ker, who lived in Thomas street, Dublin, prosecuted a Roman Catholic clei-gyman, 
who had married his daughter to a Roman Catholic, and llial ihe clergyman was found 
guilty and actually hanged. Doubts have been insinuated of the fact. I am neverthe- 
less persuaded ofits correctness ; but still 1 may be in error. Traditions received at 
early pei-iods of life, are liable to be mistaken, nfter a long lapse of time, for I'ecnllec- 
tions of facts subjected to the senses. I intended to have ascei'tained this (joint by wri- 
ting to Dublin — but nesjiected it. It must tberefni-e rest in a state of uncertainly. The 
reader, however, will find in the tiext chapter, that this law was actually in force at a 
late date, and that a clergyman who married a Protestant to a Roman Catholic, was 
then liable to be hanged, notwithstanding the varions modifications of the " Popery 
laws." 



384 VINDICLE UlBERmCJE. 

lies, on certain contingencies. If returned, the owners were to pay 
the expenses of seizing^ and keeping them !!!! — Idem, 466. 

To increase the profligacy and turpitude of this code, a large portion 
of its provisions were ex post facto, and operated the work of rapine 
and depredation for years antecedent to their enaction. In 1710, an 
act was passed, annulling fines, recoveries, and settlements, made for 
seven years preceding !!* 

All collateral and other securities, hy mortgages, judgments, statutes 
merchant, or of the staple, or otherwise howsoever, to cover, support, 
or make good any bargain, sale, confirmation, release, or other convey- 
ance, contrary to a preceding piratical law, were rendered null and void- 
And any Protestant might sue out such mortgages, or sue for such 
lands, in any court of law, and obtain a verdict, and have execution 
to be put in possession thereof, l 

This provision was retrospective : thus, if a Roman Catholic had lent 
ten thousand pounds, and, as a security for payment, taken a mortgage 
on real estate, om/ Protestant might sue out such mortgage, and rob 
the lender of his property .'.'.' None of the legislators of Tripoli or 
Algiers, none of the ferocious followers of Blackbead, or Morgan, or 
Kid, the pirates,' — none of the banditti whose trade is rapine and plun- 
der, ever conceived a more piratical or plundering act than this. It 
may be fairly said to have converted the seat of legislation into " a den 
of thieves." 

If any Protestant woman, possessed of real estate of any description 
whatever, or personal estate to the value of five hundred pounds, mar- 
ried, without a previous certificate that her husband was a Protestant, 

— •..>©®e+«'— 

* " ^11 settlements, fines, co^nmon recoveries, and oilier conveyances had or made 
since the 1st of January, 1703, of any lands, &c. by any Papist, or by any Protes- 
tant who turned Papist since the said 1st of Jan., 1703, or by any such Papist with 
his then Protestant wife, who hath turned Papist as aforesaid, whereby any Protes- 
tant is barred of any estate, in reversion or remainder, whereunto such Protestant 
was intituled at the time of levying such fine, sulTering such recovery, or making 
such conveyance, s/jall as to S7ich Protestant />e Jiull and void J'" ■ — Idem, 460. 

"}■ " All collateral and other securities, by mortgages, judgments, statutes merchant, . 
or of the staple or otherwise, ■wliich. liave been ! ! '. or thereafter sliall be, made or 
entered into, to cover, support, or secure, and make good any bargain, sale, confir- 
mation, release, feoflTment, lease, or other conveyance, contrary to 2 Ann. sess. 1, 
c. 6. are void to the purchaser of any the said lands or tenements in trust for, or for 
the benefit of, any Papist, as likewise to any such Papist, his heirs and assigns : 
and all such lands, &c. so conveyed or leased, or to be conveyed or leased to any 
Papist, or to the use of, or in trust for, any Papist, contrary to the said act, and all 
such collateral securities as are or shall be made or entered into, to cover, support, 
secure or make good the same, may be sued for by any Protestant, by his proper 
action, real, personal, or niixt, founded on this act, in any of her majesty's courts of 
law or equity, if the nature of the case shall require it." 

" Provided any Protestant may prefer one or more bill or bills in the chancery, or 
chancery of exchequer, against any person concerned in such sale, lease, mortgage, or 
incumbrance, and against ;dl persons privy to such trusts for Papists ; and to com- 
pel such person to discover such trusts, and answer all matters relating thereunto, as 
by such bill shall be required : to which bill no plea or demurrer shall be allowed : but 
tlie defendant sliall answer tlie same oil oath at large, iidiich ansxver shall be good 
evidence against tlie defendant, in actions brought upon this act : and that all issues, 
in any suit founded on this act, shall be tried by none but known Protestants .'//" 
—Idem, 4C4-5. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 385 

she forfeited her whole estate, which went to the next Protestant 
heir!!.'— Uohins, 385. 

To outrage the feelings of the wretched Helots, they were forbidden, 
under a penalty of ten pounds, to bury their dead in the graveyards of 
any suppressed convent, abbey, or monastery,* where rested the 
remains of their ancestors ! 

In order to secure impartial justice, in England, foreigners, accused 
of petit treason, murder, or felony, are tried by a jury composed of an 
equal number of natives and foreigners ; and juries are thus constituted 
in civil actions between denizens and foreigners. But, as if nothing 
were too sacred or holy to be trampled under foot, in Ireland, in all the 
cases arising under the laws " to prevent the growth of Popery," 
Catholics were expressly excluded from juries ;t and their honour, 
their property, and their lives were thus exposed to the mercy of 
their envenomed enemies : 

If a Catholic child were sent abroad without license, it was presumed 
by law that he was sent to be educated in a foreign seminary ; bi/ which 
a forfeiture of his personal and of the income of his real estate was 
incurred. On his return, he might apply to court, and prove the cause 
of his absence to have been innocent; in which case, he was entitled 
to the future income of his real estate, but could not be restored to 
the proceeds during his absence, nor to any part of his personal 
estate!!!!— Robins, 185-6. 

Roman Catholics were prohibited from acting as guardians. An 
infraction of this law subjected the party to a penalty of five hundred 
pounds \\ 

Roman Catholic housekeepers were obliged to find fit Protestant 
substitutes for militia duty; and, in case of neglect or refusal, to pay 
double the fine imposed on Protestants ;§ and likewise to pay, towards 
the support of the militia, double what the Protestants paid ! ! !|| . 

• " None shall, from the said 29th of December, bury any dead in any suppressed 
monastery, abbey or convent, that is not made use of for celebrating divine service 
according to the liturgy of the church of Ireland by the law established, or within 
the precincts thereof, upon pain of ten pounds .'" — Idem, 452. 

+ " From the first of Michaelmas-Term, 1708, no papist shall serve or be returned 
to serve on any grand jury in the queen's bench, or before justices of assize, oyer 
and terminer, or gaol delivery, or quarter sessions, unless it appear to the court, that 
a sufficient number of Protestants cannot then be had for the service ; and in all 
trials of issues, on any presentment, indictment, or information, or action on statute, 
for any offence committed by Papists, in lireach of such laws. The plaintiff or 
prosecutor may challenge any Papist returned as juror, and assigii as a cause 
that he is a Papist, ivhich challenge shall be alloxved of .' .' T' — Idem, 459. 

t "No Papist shall be guardian unto, or have the- tuition or custody of, any orphan 
or child under the age of twenty-one years ; but the same (where the person intituled 
to, or having the guardianship of, such child, is or shall be a Papist) shall be disposed 
of by chancery to some near relation of such orphan, &c., being a Protestant, to 
whom the estate cannot descend. 

" If any Papist shall take upon him the guardianship or tuition of any orphan 
or child, contrary to this act, he shall forfeit 500^ to be recovered by action of 
debt //.'.'"— Idem, 454. 

§ " The lieutenants, &c., or the major part of them, may cause to be raised upon 
the Popish inhabitants, and upon every person who shall refuse to take the oath of 
abjuration, (which oath any justice of the peace may administer,) double the sum 
they should have paid by virtue of this act, in case they had been Protestants ! !" — 
Idem, 407. 

11 " In case such Papist shall neglect or refuse to find such suflicient man, he shall 



386 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^. 

Catholics were not allowed to purchase any part of the forfeited 
estates ; nor to inherit, take, make title to, by descent, purchase, limi- 
tation, devise, or other conveyance, or have, hold, or enjoy any such 
estates !* They were even prohibited from taking them on leases for 
lives or years ! 

Roman Catholics were prohibited, in 1702, from buying or pur- 
chasing, in their own names, or in the names of others to their use, 
any lands, or rents and profits out of the same, other than for a term 
not exceeding tliiriy-one years.t By a refinement of rapacity and in- 
justice, it was enacted, that if a farm yielded a profit greater than 
the amount of one-third of the rent, the right to it was imm,ediately 
to cease, and to pass over to the first Protestant who should discover 
the rate of profit ! ! 

No Roman Catholic could be elected mayor, bailiff, sovereign, por- 
trieff, burgomaster, recorder, sheriff, treasurer, alderman, town-clerk, 
burgess, common council-man, within any city, walled town, or cor- 
poration ; nor be nominated, appointed, presented, or sworn, as high 
constable, in any barony, or half-barony ; or as petty constable, in any 
manor, ward, parish, constablewick, or place within the kingdom : but 
was to be proportionably taxed to support the same. — 2 Geo. I. xii. 

Some portions of this code appears so gratuitously wicked and pro- 
fligate, that it is difficult even to conjecture what could have been the 
object of the miscreants by whom they were enacted. So late as the 
year 1745, it was provided, that all marriages celebrated by a Roman 
Catholic clergyman, between two Protestants, or between a Protestant 
and a Roman Catholic, should be tudl and void to all intents and pur- 
poses, without any process, judgment, or sentence of the lav) what- 
soever.\ To what a hidious flood of licentiousness ; what overwhelm- 

forfeit double t/ie sum as a Protestant should forfeit, in case such Protestant should 
neglect to attend the service of the militia, when thereunto required, by beat of drum 
or sound of trumpet, as aforesaid ! !" — Idem, 409, 

* " Leases of the premises to be made to Protestants only, at the full improved 
rent, without any fine. Leases to or in trust for Papists, or assigned to them, to be 
void.'!! and the lessor, assignor, and lessee or assignee, accepting or occupying such 
lands, 1o forfeit treble the yeurhj value .'//" — Idem, 26. 

f " Every Papist, after the time aforesaid, shall be disabled to purchase, either in his 
own name or in the name of any other, to his use or in trust for him, any manors, 
lands, hereditaments, or any rents or profits out of the same, or any leases or terms 
thereof, other than for a term of years not exceeding thirty-one years, whereon a 
rent, not less than tivo-thirds of the irr.proved yearly value ! at the time of making 
such lease, shall be reserved and made payable during such term." — Idem, 454. 

t" After the first of May, 1746, every marriage celebrated by a Popish priest, 
between a Papist and any person who hath been, or hath professed himself or her- 
self to be a Protestant, at any time within twelve months of such celebration of 
marriage, or between two Protestants, shall be null and void to all intents and pur- 
poses, ivithnnt any process, Judgment, or sentence of the law -whatsoever ! ! ! " — 
2 Geo. II. xiii. 19. 

" Of the administration of Lord Chesterfield, by whose suggestion the above vile 
act was passed, Mr. Burke gives the following account. " This man, while he 
was duping the credulity of the Papists with fine words in private, and commending 
their good behaviour during a rebellion in Great Britain, as it well deserved to be 
commended and awarded, was capable of urging penal laws against them in a speech 
from the throne, and of stimulating with provocatives the wearied and half-exhaused 
bigotry of the Parliament of Ireland. They set to work ; but they were at a loss 
what to do ; for they had already almost gone through every contrivance ivhich 



CHAPTER XXXV. 397 

ing immorality ; what basterdizing of children ; what uncertainty of 
inheritance, must this atrocious law have given rise ? 

Justices of peace might summon any person, suspected of having 
been married by a Roman Catholic priest, or been present at such mar- 
riage ; and if such person refused to attend, or to be examined, or to 
enter into recognisance to prosecute, he was liable to three years im- 
prisonment. — Robins, 389. 

Dreading lest the piratical and sanguinary system they were estab- 
lishing, should lead to insurrection, in which they might meet the fate 
their tyranny deserved, the " ascendency" early determined to secure 
themselves from that consequence, by robbing and plundering the Ca- 
tholics of their arms ;* thus in a manner tying them neck and heels, 
and laying them prostrate at their mercy. 

The laws on this point, which was regarded as vital to the security 
of the tyrants, were of the most extraordinary rigour. Two justices 
of the peace might summon before them any Catholics, from the peer 
or peeress to the lowest peasant, and examine them, on oath, not 
merely on the subject of arms in their own possession, but oblige them 
to turn informers against their parents, children, friends and neighbours ; 
and if they refused to appear, or, on appearing, refused to give evidence, 
or turn informers, peers and peeresses were subject to a penalty of three 
hundred pounds, for the first offence ; and for the second, to imprison- 
ment for life, and forfeiture of all their goods ! ! I ! f 

By this law, the best man in the land might be summoned by two 
justices of the peace, at the instance of the lowest scoundrel, and an 
oath tendered to him to inform against his nearest or dearest friend. 
The same oath might be tendered to him the second time, within an 
hour; and if he refused both times, he was, ipso facto, liable to be 
robbed of his goods, and subject to imprisonment for life ! .'.' 

Lest there should be any scruples of conscience among the justices, 
which might prevent iheir activity in the enforcement of such a sys- 
tem of legalized, but atrocious rapine, any magistrate who should 

could waste the vigour of iheir country : but, after much struggle, they produced 
a child of their old age, the stiocking and unnatural act about marriages, ivhicfi 
tended to finish the scheme for making ilie people 7iot only livo distinct parties for 
ever, but Iceeping them us two disti?ict species in the same land." — Parnell, 69. 

* " All Papists within this kingdom of Ireland, before the 1st of March next, shall 
discover and deliver up to some justice of the peace, all their arms, armour, and 
ammunition of ivliat kind soever, in tlieir possession ; and after that time, any two 
more justices of the peace, within their respective limits, and all mayors, sheriffs, 
and chief officers of cities, &c. in their liberties, by themselves or their warrants, 
under their hands and seals, may search for, seize, or cause to be searched for and 
seized, and take into their custody, all such arms, &c. as shall be concealed in any 
house, lodging, or other places where they suspect any such to be." — Robins, 448. 

-j- " Two justices of peace, or the magistrate of any corporation, are empowered 
to summon before them any persons whatsoever, to tender them an oath, by which 
they oblige them to discover all persons who have any arms concealed, contrary to 
law. Their refusal or declining to appear, or, on appearing, their refusal to inform, 
subjects them to the severest penalties. If peers or peeresses are summoned, (for 
they may be summoned by the boilifT of a corporation of six cottages,) to perform 
this lionourable service, and tliey refuse to inform, the first offence is 300/. pen- 
altv ! ! t/ie second is premunire, tliat is to say, imprisonment for life, and for- 
feiture of all their goods ! ! ! Persons of an inferior order are for the first offence 
fined 30h for the second, they too are subjected to premunire." — Burke, V. 195. 



388 VINDICl^ HIBERNICiE. 

neglect or refuse to perform the duties it imposed on him, was subject 
to fifty pounds penalty.* 

All wise legislators justly hold, that one of their most important 
duties is to provide for the instruction and illumination of the people, 
under a conviction tiiat public instruction and virtue, ignorance and 
vice grow to maturity together. But the Irish parliament doomed 
seven-eiehths of the nation, to which it was given as a curse, to per- 
petual and invincible ignorance ! ! To brutalize and barbarize those 
Helots, to plunge them into the abysses of Cimmerian darkness, they 
were, at one stroke, cut ofl' from education. The law punislied the 
man who « 

" Taught the young idea how to shoot," 

who assisted to remove that brutal ingorance which prepares the mind 
for every species of vice and crime, as severely as the man who rob- 
bed altars, burned houses, or murdered his father or mother ! ! ! 

This never-enough-to-be-execrated code was far worse than Draco's, 
which is 

" Damn'd to everlasting fame." 

Draco, barbarous and cruel as he was, in his sanguinary code, which 
punished all crimes with death, has never been accused of punishing 
any thing but crimes. But the worse than Draconian Irish legislature 
donounced banishment, and, in case of return, death, against any 
Catholic guilty of the offence of teaching school ! ! instructing children 
in learning, in a private house ! ! or officiating as usher to a Protestant 
school-master ! ! f 

The eternal laws of humanity, imprinted on our hearts by our great 
Creator, command sympathy for our suflering fellow-creatures, and, 
when in our power, the extension of relief to their miseries. The 
rudest savages are not insensible to the sway of this universal and 
sovereign law. They share their slender pittance with the distressed 
and suiTering stranger. Christ Jesus himself, in the most emphatical 
language he ever used — in " words that burn," — denounces " everlast- 
ing fire" against those that refuse obedience to this law : 

" Depart from me, ye cursed ! into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
angels ! for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave 
me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in ; naked and ye clothed me 
not ; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not." 

This divine lesson the impious and barbarous Irish legislature, with 
a wicked hypocrisy, wliich enhanced the atrocity of the deed, tram- 
pled under foot, with a pretence of propagating, in its utmost purity, 
the religion of that Jesus Christ, of whose precepts and maxims their 

— -i'**©® *«»*—■ 

* " If any mayor, justice of peace, or other officer, shall neglect, knowingly and 
voluntarily to do his duty in execution of this act, he shall for every such neglect, 
forfeit 50/. to be recovered by action of debt, &c. one moiety to her majesty, &c. the 
other to him that will sue for the same." — Robins, 459. 

-(• " If any Papist shall publickly teach school, or instruct yonth in learning in 
any private house, or shall be entertained to instruct yonth, as usher or assistant 
to any Protestant school-master, he shall be esteemed a Popish regular clergyman, 
and prosecuted as such, and shall incur such penalties and forfeitures as any 
Popish regular convict is liable unta ! .' .'" — Idem, 613. 



UHAPTEli XXXV. 389 

laws were an undeviating violation ! ! ! By those laws, if Francis Xa- 
vier, Fleury, Bossuet, Bourdaloiie, Fenelon, Massillon, cardinal Pole, 
archbishop Carrol, bishop Cheverus, the Rev, Mr. Matignon, the Rev. 
Mr. Harding, the Rev. Mr, Fleming, or the Rev. Mr. Gra?ssel, were 
in Ireland, and " hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and sick, and in 
prison," at the last gasp of existence, for want of the corrimon neces- 
saries of life, the man who three times administered relief, might by 
law be robbed of his entire estate, real and personal, as a reward for 
his charity ! ! !* Can the vocabulary of execration aflbrd terms of re- 
proach adequate to brand the turpitude of such a system, and of its vile 
authors ? 

Throughout the whole habitable globe, even among the most bar- 
barous of the human race, respect and reverence for parents have been 
universally inculcated, except in devoted Ireland, The fifth command 
of the decalogue explicitly orders. 

" Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land 
which the Lord thy God giveth thee." 

This is " the first command with a promise of reward" for its obser- 
vance ; but no punishment is annexed to the violation. Deuteronomy, 
however, goes further, and pronounces a curse on those who even 
slight their parents : 

" Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or mother." 
And Jesus Christ, the light of whose gospel the Irish legislators pre- 
tended to spread, renewed and enforced the command, 

" Honour thy father and thy mother." 
But what was thedictate of the hideous code "to prevent the growth 
of Popery ?" Did it support or countenance the observance of this 
holy law of Moses and of Jesus Christ? No : it said, in language fit 
for pirates and robbers. Forswear your religion, and then you shall 
have legal sanction to plunder your father and mother, and bring their 
gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. f In return for all their cares, 
their solicitudes, their pains, their affection, strip them of that property 
which ought to support your brothers and sisters ! This was the une- 
quivocal spirit of Irish legislation, on the subject of filial duty. 

When any child or children of any Roman Catholic other than the 
eldest son, whose case was provided (or before, conformed to the Protes- 
tant religion, the father was obliged to give in, upon oath, to the court 
of chancery, a statement of the real and bona fide value of all his estate, 
real and personal ; and make such provision for the present and future 

* " Any person that shall, from the first of May, knowingly conceal or entertain 
any such archbishop, bishops, &c. hereby required to depart out of this kingdom, or 
that after the said day shall come into this kingdom, shall, for the first otfence, for- 
feit ttuenty poitnds ! for the second, double that sum ! and if he offend the third 
time, shall forfeit all Iiis lands and tenements of freeJiold or inlieritance during 
his life ; and also all his goods and chattels ! ! ! " — Robins, 452. 

-j- " The eldest son, conforming, immediately acquires, and in the life time of his 
father, the permanent part, what our law calls the reversion and inheritance of the 
estate, and he discharges it by retrospect ; and annuls every sort of voluntary 
settlement made by the father ever so long before his conversion.' This he may 
sell or dispose of immediately, and alienate it from tho family for ever." — BuBKr,. 
V. 187. 

49 



.390 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

uiaintenance of the conlbrniing child or children, as the court might 
Older! '."—Robins, 459. 

I3y 9th Geo. II. c. 6. sect. 5. " persons robbed by privateers during 
war with a Popish prince, shall be reimbursed by grand jury present- 
ment, and Ihe money be levied upon the goods and lands of Popish 
inliubitants only.'''' — Parnell, 68. 

Many people have been deluded into the opinion, that these laws 
were merely enacted in terrorem, and were scarcely ever enforced. 
This is a very great error. They were for nearly half a century en- 
forced with the most unfeeling barbarity. Thousands of wretches lived 
on the spoils vvhicii they raised by informations against Roman Catho- 
lics for breaches of those wicked statutes. 

" During all queen Anne's reign, the inferior civil officers, by order of government, 
were Ui.cessantlij haraHsing the CulhoLics, -with oaths, impris'iiunents, and forfei- 
tures, without any visible cause but hatred of this religious profession. In the year 
1708, on the hare rumour of an intended invasion of Scotland by the Pretender, 
forty-one liomcm Catholic noblemen and gentlemen -were imjirisoned in ihe castle 
of Ihiblin ! .' and, when they were afterwards set at liberty, the government was so 
sensible of the wrong done to thenr., that it remitted their fees, amounting to 800/. 
A custom that had existed from time immemorial, for infirm men, women, and 
children to make a pilgrimage every summer to a place called St.'John's Well, in the 
county of Meath, in hopes of obtaining relief from their several disorders, by per- 
forming at it certain acts of penance and devotion, was deemed an object worthy of 
the serious consideration of the house of commons, who accordingly passed a vote, 
that these sickly devotees " luere assembled in that place to the great hazard and 
danger of tlie public peace, and safety of the kingdom.'" 'J'hey also passed a vote, 
on the 17tli of March, 1705, " That all magistrates and other persons -whatso- 
ever, ivlio neglected or omitted to put them {the penal laivs) in due execution, -were 
betrayers of the liberties of the kingdom ! ! ! — [Com. Jour. 3. 289,] and, in June 
1705, they resolved, " 1'hat all saying and hearing of mass, by persons -who had 
not taken the oath of abjuration, tended to advance the interest of the Pretender ; 
and that such Judges and magistrates as -ivilficlli/ neglected to make diligent in- 
quiry into, and to discover such ivicked practices, ought to be looked upon as 
enemies to her majesty''^ government." — Idem, 319. And upon another occasion, 
they resolved, " 'J'hat the prosecuting and informing against I'apists -was an 
honourable service to the government ! ! " — Ibid. — Pamnkll, 59. 

Of this code of laws, it may be fairly averred, that, had all the peni- 
t(!ntiaries in Europe been ransacked, to form a legislature for Ireland, — 
had Cartouche and his gang taken possession of the Parliament-house, 
they could not have devised a more rapacious or cruel system. 

There is scarcely a code in the woild, that does not afford some in- 
stances of unjust and immoral laws, enacted in moments of delusion or 
faction. But this is the only one universally and undeviatingly profligate 
and depraved, — of which every provision and paragraph violated some 
law of God or man,. and the plainest dictates of eternal justice, — which 
legalized robbery, and punished with death acts of humanity — the tui- 
tion of youth — the celebration of marriage, (fcc. &c. 

The professed object of the hypocritical tyrants who framed this 
" ferocious system," as Burk appropriately styles it, was to rescue 
the objects of its rapacity from the darkness of Popish idolatry. But 
they might worship Jupiter Ammon, Juno, Venus, Mars, Bacchus, 
and Apollo, with the Romans; the sun with the Guebres ; or Apis, 
with the Egyptians ; they might even disbelieve in God altogether. 
Provided they foreswear transubstantiation and the Pope's authority, 
they became pure and immaculate ; their property and persons were 
secure ; and, under the fuvms and ceremonies of the law of the land, 



CHAPTER XXXV. ^'jj 

they then acquired a right to rob and plunder the blind, idolatrous Papists 
whom they had abandoned ! ! ! ! 

Whoever has duly considered the villany of those statutes, and of 
the legislators by whom they were enacted ; the horrible scenes of op- 
pression, fraud, and murder, which they could not fail to produce ;*the 
demoralization that must have followed their operation, — cannot fail to 
agree with Tillotson, that, so far as respected the devoted island whose 
fate is the theme of this work, it were 

" Better there were no revealed religion, and that human nature were left to the 
conduct of its own principles and inclinations, which aie much more inild and mer- 
ciful, much more for the peace and happiness of human society, than to be actuated 
by a religion that inspires men -with so vile a fury, and prom/jts them to commit 
such outrages .'" — Tillotson, III. 19. 

Tillotson applied this strong position to other parts of Christendom ; 
but shut his eyes to the wickedness, the profligacy, and the imuioraliiy 
of the code in force in iiis native country ;* — so much easier is it to take 
the mote out of our neighbour's eye, than the beam out of our own.f 

We have now, however, in this enlightened country, bigoted cler- 
gymen, who cant, and whine, and turn up the whites of their eyes, 
deploring and reviling the persecuting spirit of Madrid, and Lisbon, 
and Paris, and Rome, and Goa ; but, like Tillotson, deaf, and blind, 
and dumb, to the atrocious system of persecution for ages in operation 
in England and Ireland. If they attend to the maxim of Jesus Christ, 
•' Let him that is without sin cast the first stone," they will lay an 
eternal embargo on their tongues, upon this odious, this detestable sub- 
ject. Sat. verbum. 

To the candour and justice of every reader. Christian, Jew, Turk, 

" The English laws on this subject were almost as wicked and cruel as the Irish . 

\ That this detestable code, though cloaked with a hypocritical pretence of a 
regard for the propagation of the Protestant religion, and a zeal to suppress and ex- 
tirpate the ^^superstitions of Popery," as the Roman Catholic religion was styled, 
originated, as I have stated, in a determination to rob and plunder the Roman Catho- 
lics of their estates, after having reduced them to the most abject slavery, is evident 
from the fact, that it was continued in operation, long after experience had proved it 
utterly unavailing to answer the pretended purposes of its enaction. The first act for 
robbing the Roman Catholics of their estates, in case they did not conform to the Pro- 
testant religion, and bestowing them on the next Protestant heir, or conforming 
Catholic, was passed in the year 1703, and from that time till 1752 inclusive, a period 
of fifty years, there were only 1860 certificates of conformity filed. — [Newexiiam, 
184.] — The attempt was almost as futile as an effort to drain lough Erne with a 
ladle. 

I copied an atrocious case of legalized robbery, which I intended to have published 
here at full length — but have mislaid the MS. and am obliged to confine myself to 
a mere outline. One of the vile Popery laws, allowed six months for the Catholic 
heir of real estate to forswear the religion of his fathers, as the means of securing the 
possession. If he neglected or refused, the next heir, if a Protestant, or a conform- 
ing Catholic, was authorized to rob the owner of the property. A large estate 
devolved on a Catholic, who conformed on the last day of the sixth calendar month. 
He then made a bona fide sale of the property. But the next Protestant heir sued 
for the estate, on the ground that the law contemplated lunar months. The plea, 
after long litigation, was admitted by the judges, and thus the robbery was sanc- 
tioned by what was called a court of justice. Can, I repeat once more, the language 
of vituperation find words strong enough to mark the infamy of the miscreant legis- 
lators, who promulgated such a detestable system ' 



392 VIIVDICL^ HIBERNIC.^. 

or Heathen, I appeal, to decide, whether, if the Roman Catholics of 
Ireland had risen en masse, when this vile code was enacted, and 
crushed their tyrannical oppressors, they would not have been per- 
fectly justified ? And whether the resistance would, even if unsuc- 
cessful, have deserved the odious name of rebellion ? 

" Rebellion ! foul, dishonourmg word, 

Whose wrongful blight so oft has stain'd 
The holiest cause that tongue or sword 

Of mortal ever lost or gain'd. 
How many a spirit, born to bless, 

Has sunk beneath that withering name, 
Whom but a day's, an hour's success 

Had wafted to eternal fame ! 
As exhalations, when they burst 
From the warm earth, if chill'd at first, 
If check'd in soaring from the plain, 
Darken to fogs and sink again ; 
But, if they once triumphant spread 
Their wings above the mountain-head, 
Become enthron'd in upper air, 
And turn to sun-bright glories there!" — Lalla Rooke. 

I also appeal to the reader to decide, whether had any spy or in- 
former blasted such an undertaking he would not have merited never- 
dying execration ? Those who answer the first and third of those 
questions in the negative are grovelling slaves, who, for sake of con- 
sistency, must execrate the barons, wlio extorted Magna Charta from 
king John — those who produced the revolution of 1688 — and all those 
who ever made any efibrt in favour of human liberty or human happi- 
ness. 

" Oh for a tongue to curse the slave, 

Whose treason, like a deadly blight. 
Comes o'er the councils of the brave, 

And blasts them in their hour of might ! 
May life's unblessed cup for him 
Be drugg'd with treacheries to the brim ; 
With hopes, that but allure to fly. 

With joys, that vanish while he sips. 
Like Dead-Sea fruits, that tempt the eye, 

But ttirn to ashes on the lips ! 
His country's curse, his children's shame, 
Outcast of virtue, peace, and fame. 
May he, at last, with lips of flame. 
On the parched desert, thirsting, die, — 
While lakes, that shone in mockery nigh. 
Are fading off, untouch'd, untasted, 
Like the once glorious hopes he blasted ! 
And, when from earth his spirit flies, 

Just Prophet, let the damned one dwell 
Full in the sight of Paradise, 

Beholding heaven, and feeling hell ! " — Ibid. 



CHAPTER XXXVr. 393 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Stale of the Popery laws in the year 1812. Catholic clergymen liable 
to be hanged for marrying tivo Protestants, or a Protestant to a 
Roman Catholic. Prohibition of permanent endowm,ent of a Ca- 
tholic chapel or school house. System of exclusion from office, 
Oppression of parish vestries. 

" Alas, the penal code against the Catholics of Ireland is far from being in 
a relaxed or languishing state. iVb clause is permitted to slumber : no merciful 
connivance is tolerated : even obsolete enactments are now forced iiito fresh vigour. 
The system works incessantly to the prejudice of every Catholic : and though 
sometimes unobservedly, yet eventually with sure and grievous efficacy. 
Even when it bears a masked appearance, it is not less malignant, than when 
raging in the most furious aspect of persecution. 

" No Catfiolic is so exalted by rank, fortune, or talent, or so depressed by poverty 
or ignorance, as to elude its baneful influence, to remain insensible of its contume- 
lious and exasperating operation, or to suppress his murmurs against its long con- 
tinuance.^^ — Statement of Penal Laws. 

An idea has been entertained that the only grievance under which 
the Irish Catholics labour at present, is their ineligibility to seats in 
parliament and some of the higher offices of government — and there- 
fore that but very few of the first class of that society are interested in 
the attempts making to promote Catholic emancipation. This is a 
most egregious error. Almost every Roman Catholic in the nation ex- 
periences the disadvantages of the existing order of things, in a greater 
or less degree, as will appear in the sequel.* 

It is very true, that the most hideous features of the " ferocious" and 
rapacious code, of which I presented a brief sketch in the preceding 
chapter, have been repealed. The jeopardy in which the government 
was placed, was the impelling motive, not a sense of justice or huma- 
nity, or shame to have the Irish code thus disgraced and dishonoured. 
A bill was brought in, anno 1778, to enable the Roman Catholics to 
take leases for sixty-one years. This mighty boon was rejected by the 
unfeeling tyrannical majority in parliament. The disasters in America 
opened their eyes to the policy of conciliating the mass of the popu- 
lation — and in a very few months after, I believe in the same session, 
the same body of men passed an act enabling the Roman Catholics to 
take leases for 999 years! ! What an immense contrast between the 
rejected bill and the one that finally passed ! Imminent danger is a 

* The facts in the present chapter are taken from an elaboiate and learned work, 
written and published anno 1812, under the auspices of the Catholic board, by a 
professional gentleman, of high reputation, and containing a fair statement of the 
remnants of this vile code, in force at that period. Its title is — " A Statement of the 
Penal Laws, which aggrieve the Catholics of Ireland." I have reason to believe, 
but am not quite certain, that no alteration of those laws has since taken place. 



394 VINDIC'I^ HIBERNICiE. 

wonderful liberalizer of oppressors.* But the repeal of laws which 
favour the tyranny and oppression of one class of men over another, 
does not at once destroy inveterate habits of domination or disqualifi- 
cation. The operation is slow. Thus it will be found, that many of 
the inost obnoxious of the exclusions aud restrictions imposed on the 
Roman Catholics in the days of persecution and bigotry, are as com- 
pletely in operation as they were forty or fifty years since. 

I cannot enter into detail of the various penalties, disqualifications, 
and oppressions, which, to the disgrace of the government, remain in 
force in Ireland, against this proscribed body. I shall confine myself 
to a few of the most prominent. 

The vile law still remains in force, which subjected a Roman Catho- 
lic clergyman to be hanged, if he celebrated marriage between two 
Protestants, or between a Protestant and a Roman Catholic. t By an 
act passed so late as 1793, there was a penalty of 500/. imposed upon 
Catholic clergymen celebrating marriages of this description.:]: It was 
supposed, and rationally enough, that this enactment virtually repealed 
the former bloody law. But that this is an erroneous construction has 
been declared by the late lord Kilwarden from the bench in several 
prosecutions under this act, in the year 1800.§ 

Catholic priests are liable to imprisonment, for not revealing secrets 
confided to them in the confessional|| — and are liable to be punished 

— — »e©»<«— 

* " But the Catholics were indehted, not only to the labours of their friends, but 
also to the great revolution which was going on at this period in America, for the suc- 
cess of the first concessions that were made to them. This appears very evident, from 
the failure of an attempt which was made by Mr. James Fitzgerald, a few months be- 
fore the introduction of the act of 17, 18 Geo. III. to obtain for them a power to 
take leases for lands for 61 years. For, soon after-wards, ivhen the iiHelliffence 
arrived of the defeat of the British forces in America, the same Parliamejit, on 
the recommendation of the government, passed an act for enabling them to take 
land on leases for 999 years." — Pahnell, 122. 

■\ " If a Catholic clergyman happens, though inadvertently, to celebrate marriage 
between two Protestants, or between a Protestant and a Catholic (unless already 
married by a Protestant minister) he is liable by laxv to suffer death." — Statement 
of Penal Laws, 16. 

\ " And that every Popish priest, or reputed Popish priest, who shall celebrate 
any marriage between two Protestants, or between any such Protestant and Papist, 
unless such Protestant and Papist shall have been first married by a clergyman of 
the Protestant religion, shall forfeit the sum of 500/. to his majesty, upon conviction 
thereof." — Idem, 19. 

■§ " It was for some time supposed, that the former punishment of death for this 
offence was virtually mitigated to the penalty of 500/. by the fair construction of the 
last mentioned act, and had become merged in the new prohibition. However, the 
contrary doctrine has been adopted by high law authority, and in several cases, 

particularly in that of the king at the prosecution of surgeon B , against the 

reverened Mr. G , John Mac Dermot, and others — where lord Kihoarden, chief 

justice of the Alng^s Hench, declared publicly in full court, that this offence con- 
tinues at this day to be punishable -with death, under the Popery laws." — Ibid. 

[| " Catholic priests arc liable to imprisonment for refusing, upon being interrogated 
in courts of justice, to divulge the secrets of private confession, confided to them by 
their penitents." — Statement of Penal Laws, 21. 

"The late lord Kilwarden, chief justice, committed to jail a Catholic priest, the 
reverend Mr. Gahan, for contumacy of this nature. This occurred at the summer 
assizes of 1802, for the county of Meath, held at Trim, in the case of Mrs. O'Brien 
V. The Trustees of Maynooth college." — TL/d. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 395 

by civil action for excommunicating uiTworthy members of their own 
communion.* 

The exclusions from public offices are to the last degree oppressive, 
and vexatious, and pernicious. By positive Vdw, no person can be 
mayor, sovereign, portiff, burgomaster, bailiff, alderman, recorder, 
treasurer, sheriff, town-clerk, common council man, master or warden 
of any guild, corporation, or fraternity, or hold any such or like ofHces, 
in any city, walled town, or corporation in Ireland,! unless he takes the 

• " The Catholic clergy are liable to be'punished, by civil action for excommuni- 
cating unworthy members of their own communion." — Idem, 26. 

f " It is difficult to enumerate all the municipal situations in the various cities and 
towns of Ireland, closed against Catholic industry and merit. In the city of Dublin 
alone we find the offices following, viz. 

Lord mayor and aldermen ------ 24 

Sheriffs 2, sheriffs peers 38 - - - - . - 40 

Recorder and treasurer ...... 2 

Common council-men .......96 

Masters and wardens of guilds, about .... 84 

Town clerks 2 

248 

" Passing then to the other cities and corporate towns of Ireland, which may be 
reckoned at 150 in number, (as Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Belfast, Drogheda, Gal- 
way, Sligo, Derry, Cashel, Clonmell, Trim, Enniskillen, Wexford, «&c. &c.) we may 
reasonably take the average number of Corporate offices in each at about 20 : which 
probably falls far short of the real number, since the city of Dublin alone appears to 
produce nearly 250. This average number of 20 offices to each of these 115 other 
corporations, gives the number of 2300 ; and added to the number of 248 appear- 
ing in Dublin, will amount to a total of 2,548 corporate offices in Ireland, comprised 
within this positive proscription." — Idem, 94. 

" Thus far do the words and letter of the law extend ; but its spirit and necessary 
operation reach farther. They render inaccessible to Catholics the numerous lucra- 
tive situations dependent upon, and connected with, these corporate offices ; the 
patronage, power, preference, and profits at their disposal. In the city of Dublin 
alone, the number of these dependant situations exceeds 200 — including the entire 
police establishment and its officers, paving and lighting and pipe-water boards, 
commissioners of wide streets, court of conscience, grand jury, city surveyors, 
craners, collectors, clerks, secretaries, solicitors, agents, and the various petty offices 
of more or less emolument, derived from those boards. 

" We may fairly estimate the number of 1,000 as not exceeding the amount of 
similar minor offices in the gift, or at the disposal of, the several corporate officers in 
the remaining cities and towns of Ireland. This number, added to the number of 
200 to be found in the city of Dublin, will form a total of 1,200 offices in Ireland, 
from which the Catholics are excluded by the spirit and consequential hostility of 
those laws, which exclude them from corporate offices. 

" Hence it will appear, that the gross number of offices and situations from which 
this class of penal laws excludes the Catholics, may be considered as amounting, 
directly and by express enactment, to 

About - - 2,.'J48 

Consequently, to about ...... 1,200 

Total .... 3,748"— Statement of Penal Laws, 95. 
" The class of exclusion, which we are now to consider, comprehends almost 
every desirable office in the profession or administration of the laws. The offices 



396 VINDICL4: HIBEKNlC.i:. 

oath of supremacy and certain other oaths, or unless the lord lieutenant 
for the time being shall think fit, by writing under his hand and seal, to 
dispense with his taking them. These oaths, being a full and com- 
plete abjuration of their religion, are an effectual exclusion of the Ro- 
man Catholics from all those offices. The saving clause of tlie lord 
lieutenant's dispensing power is wholly nugatory, as " it does not, 
upon inquiry, appear to have been exercised in any one instance.'' — 
Statement of Penal laws, 92. 

In corporate towns, Roman Catholics are uniformly excluded from 

of this deseription, to which the CathoHcs are forbidden to aspire, by the letter of the 
statutes, are the following, viz. 

Lord high chancellor, or keeper, or commissioner of the great seal - 1 
Master or keeper of the rolls ...--- 1 

Justices of the king's bench .-..---4 
Justices of the common pleas ...... 4 

Barons of the exchequer -- - - - - - -4 

Attorney and solicitor general ....-- 2 

King's Serjeants at law -.----.-3 

King's council (present number) ------ 26 

Masters in chancery --------4 

Chairman of sessions for the county Dublin - - - - I 

Counsel to the commissioners of revenue - - - - - 2 

Recorders of cities and towns, about - - - - - 60 

Advocates in spiritual courts, about - . - - - - 20 

Sherifls of counties -------- 32 

Of cities and towns, about ------ 20 

Sub-sheriffs 40 

Total 224 



" To this number may be added 25 commissioners of bankruptcy, and 31 assistant 
barristers, or chairmen of county sessions : for, although the Catholics are not, by 
the express letter of the law, disabled from holding these offices, yet in practice they 
are excluded, with scarcely a single exception." — Statement of Penal Lit-ws, 112. 

" The consequential operation of the exclusion of Catholics, from these offices 
reaches — naturally and necessarily — to all the beneficial subordinate situations. 
Such are those of registers to judges, and to vicars-general : secretaries, deputies, 
court officers, clerks of the crown, clerks of the peace, assistants in the various law 
offices, solicitors and treasurers to numerous public boards and establishments, 
agents, clerks to great public officers, &c. Of all these subordinate, but lucrative 
offices, we may reasonable estimate the actual number, as exceeding 1000." — 
Idem, 115. 

Having recapitulated sundry other offices, such as proctors, advocates in spiritual 
courts, &c. &c. he proceeds: — " Thus there appears to be a total number of nearly 
1500 offices, connected with the profession and administration of the laws — which 
are interdicted to the Catholics, either by the express letter, or by the necessary opera- 
tion of the present penal code. 

" Of the injury and degradation which this interdiction inflicts upon the Chatholic 
body, we need not offer stronger evidence than the fact of the interdiction itself. 
One hundred and sixty legal offices of honour and of emolument, are inaccessible 
to Catholic barristers, and open to Protestants. Thirteen hundred other offices are 
reserved solely for the ruling class, to the exclusion of Catholic students, solicitors, 
attornies, clerks," &c. &c. — Idem, 116. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 397 

grand juries, and very frequently from petit juries.* This was an awful 
feature of their situation, exposing them in many cases, particularly 
in the desperate conflicts between the different factions that prevailed 
there, to the tender mercies of their deadly enemies. The sheriffs, all 
Protestants, packed the juries; and innocence in such cases, must often 
pay the penalty of guilt, and atrocious guilt secure impunity, and come 
off with flying colours, as if it were immaculate innocence. Of the 
effect of this state of things my author draws the following picture, on 
which, considering the mode of ushering this work into the world, full 
reliance may be placed :■ — 

" Verdicts have been frequently pronounced — -wholly contradictory to evidence — 
reprobated even by the sitting judges — and not to be accounted for, otherwise than 
upon the marked principle of religious prejudices. 

" Catholic prisoners are brought to trial upon charges affecting their lives : the 
evidejice failing, the crown laivyers abandon the prosecution, as untenable — the 
judge directs an acquittal: and yet, the jury finds a verdict 0/ guilty .' ! ! 

" Again. Protestant prisoners, armed yeomen or soldiers, are prosecuted for gross 
outrages against the properties and persons of Catholics — for robbery — and mitr- 
der. The evidence is clear and cofinected — the Judge charges unj'avourably — 
and yet, to the amazement of unreflecting spectators — the jury acquits instantly!!!" 
—Idem, 226. 

—'•►►9 ® 9««— 

" We shall proceed to our enumeration of the offices not already classed or speci- 
fied, viz. 

Lord lieutenant, lord deputy, or other governor of Ireland - 1 
Lord high treasurer, or lords of treasury - - - - - 8 

Custodes rotulorum of counties ------ 32 

Governors of counties (present number) - - - - 85 

Privy counsellors (present number) - - - - - 100 

Postmasters general - ..- --.-2 

Chancellor of the exchequer - - - - - - 1 

Secretary of state --,------1 

Vice-treasurer --------- 1 

Teller or cashier of the exchequer ------ 1 

Keeper of the privy seal ------- l 

Auditors-general ---------2 

Provost of Dublin University ------ l 

Fellows of the University -------25 

Officers - - 261 

" The foregoing list of offices and situations of trust, emolument, or dignity 
from which the Catholics arc excluded, by the express letter of the law, comprises 
about 261 in number. These disqualifications, too, have been re-enacted, so recently, 
as in the year 1793."— /^/ewi, 135. 

" Throughout the entire post-office establishment in Ireland, for instance, consist- 
ing of several hundred persons, there is scarcely a single Catholic to be found in a 
higher situation than that of a common letter carrier ; and few of even this class. 
The like may be affirmed of the stamp office, bank of Ireland, and the other public 
boards and establishments of Ireland. Yet the far greater proportion of their salaries 
and emoluments is extracted from the labours, the industry, and the contributions of 
Catholics." — Idem, 136. 

* " Whatever may be his wealth, his talents, or his services, he is uniformly re- 
fused a place upon grand juries within those corporate towns, and even upon petty 
juries, unless when the duty is arduous, and unconnected with party interests. He 
more than doubts of obtaining the same measure of justice, of favour, or respect 
from the mayor, recorder, alderman, tax-gatherer, public boards, &c. that is accorded 
to his Protestant neighbour." — Idem, 101. 

50 



398 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC.^. 

Roman Catholic soldiers were liable to be, and frequently were ordered 
to attend divine worship in Protestant churches — and liable to corporal 
punishment if they attended in a Catliolic chapel. The Roman Catholic 
soldiers who were fighting the battles of England in Spain, were re- 
fused the attendance of a Catholic clergyman.* 

When a Roman Catholic neglected to appoint a testamentary guar- 
dian for his minor children, they were subject to have a Protestant 
guardian appointed over them, and to be brought up in the Protestant 
religion.t 

—'•►»©©«+«•— 

* "Under this system the Catholic officers and soldiers might be compelled to 
attend personally at the celebration of the Protestant worship ! ! They might be 
forbidden to attend at Catholio houses of worship, or to receive spiritual assistance 
from the clergy of their own religion ! ! Such have been the regulations ; such, 
frequently, has been the practice. The fact is notorious. This coercion excited 
universal dissatisfliction in the army, whether stationed in South America, Spain, 
Portugal, Sicily, Great Britain, or Ireland ; numberless instances of it have occurred, 
and under every general officer, who held any command. Even the late sir John 
JMoore, one of the most enlightened and estimable men that ever wore asivord, -was 
compelled by his instrxictions to enforce this code, and to refuse permission to 
Catholic clerffiimen to attend the Catholic soldiers of his army in Spain and 
Portugal. 

" The like coercion was rigidly applied to the Navy ; nothing but Protestantism 
was there tolerated." — Suitement of Penal I^aws, 131. 

•j- " This has been strongly exemplified ; but especially in a case before lord Redes- 
dale, chancellor, on the 18th July, 1804. 

" It there appeared that a male infant, named Lyons, had in 1794 lost his 
parents — both Catholics. Lord Clare in 1795, made an order nominating the 
maternal grandfatlier, the revered liennis O'Connor, Esq. of Belinagar, to be 
the guardian ; who, as lord Clare well knew, professed the Catholic religion, Mr. 
O'Connor, having duly qualified, acted as guardian for several years, educating the 
child in the religion of his parents. In February 1804, the maternal grand-uncle, 
■who had a claim upon tlie estate of this child ! petitioned lord liedesdale for tlie 
removal of .Mr. 0' Connor — and upon cm ex-parte suggestion, {of which jyir. 
O'Connor was unapprised,') he obtained a summary order for tliat purpose ! Mr. 
O'Connor having been thus displaced — the child, (then aged about ten years,) was 
immediately removed from the Catholic school to the Protestant school in England. 

" An application was made to the chancellor by motion in court for reinstating 
Mr. O'Conner in the guardianship, and setting aside the order of February, 1804, 
as obtained by surprise, and upon erroneous suggestions. 

"The grounds upon which this application was resisted, and successfully, were 
exclusively those of public policy and favour towards the established religion. It was 
insisted by Mr. Saurin, attorney-general, and other law officers, "That the chancel- 
lor was bound by the situation which he held, to favour the diffusion of the religion 
of the state — that he had no discretion in this respect — that acting, as he was, under 
a Protestant establishment, and conformably to the policy, that had long prevailed 
in Ireland, without being fettered or controlled by any statute to the contrary, he 
could have but one idea upon the subject. .2 Protestant the child should be, for 
his spiritual good, for the Protestant religion is tlie only right one! — and a Pro- 
testant he should be for his temporal interest also, by reason of those penal laws and 
restrictions which still continued in force against Catholics ! ! Every man who 
was friendly to the Protestant establishment, must lean towards the Protestant 
faith, and endeavour to strengthen and augment the number of its adlierents — and 
that for these reasons Mr. O'Connor ought not to be reinstated in the guardianship 
of the child. 

" Lord Redesdale, concurring in these and similar principles, refused to reitistate 
J\fr. (f Connor, or restore the cidldto tlie Catholic school ; and ordered that one of 
the masters should continue guardian of the child, as if he were Protestant.'' — State- 
ment of Penal Laws, 282. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 399 

The Catholics were precluded from bequeathing any sum of money 
or any lands for the maintenance of a clergyman, or the support of a 
chapel or school.* 

The exclusion of the Roman Catholics from parish vestries, which 
originated in the year 1725, operated probably as grievously, and 
taxed them as heavily as any law or regulation in society, in conse- 
quence of the extraordinary powers of those vestries. They had 
power to order all repairs and alterations and additions that they might 
judge proper in churches — and to apportion the quota of each parish- 
ioner according to their discretion, affording a boundless field for 
favouritism on one side, and for oppression on the other. In many 
cases, for their own accommodation and that of their friends, they or- 
dered unnecessary and most expensive repairs and alterations, to make 
lucrative jobs I Thus Roman Catholics had not only to pay tithes for- 
the support of the Protestant clergy, but to pay in many cases fourfold 
their proper quota of the expenses for the repairs and alterations of the 
Protestant churches ! ! 

This would be a severe oppression vmder any circumstances — but 
the grievance was much aggravated in consequence of the very great 
disproportion of numbers between the Roman Catholics and the rest 
of the community. The former were about six times as numerous 
throughout the island, as all the other denominations united. In cer- 
tain parts of Connaught and Munster, they were twenty or thirty or 
forty for one. A parish in some of those parts, containing 10,000 in- 
habitants, might not have more than 2, 3, 4 or 500 Protestants, young 
and old, male and female : and this fragment of the people had the un- 
conti'olled power to tax their fellow-subjects for the repairs and embel- 
lishments of churches which the latter not only never attended, but could 
not conscientiously attend ! ! t 

—•►►►»© @ ®44«* — 

* " The law forbade the permanent endowment of any Catholic clergyman, house 
of worship, school house, or other pious or charitable foundation for Catholics." — 
Idem, 41. 

-j- " The powers of a parish vestry are various and extensive. To incur heavy 
expenses on the part of the parish ; to levy large sums of money upon the houses, 
lands, and persons of the inhabitants at large; to apportion those sums upon indi- 
viduals, and to apply them at their discretion, unexamined and uncontrolled ; to 
transact generally the local business of the parish : these are amongst the powers, 
vested in such persons as legally constitute a vestry. 

!' They were authorised, and indeed bound, to repair the whole church ; to pro- 
vide seats and benches, communion table, pulpit, reading desk, chalices and other 
vessels for the communion, basin for the otiertory, font, bells, biers for the dead, 
bibles, large and small, books of common prayer, register book, and various other 
books and accommodations : to fence and preserve the church-yard ; to provide a 
yearly salary of 30/. for the parish clerk, &c. &c, 

" By common law, if an old church was to be rebuilt, or a new church was so 
small as to need being enlarged, a parish vestry (having first received the bishop's 
consent, and meeting upon due notice) might make a rate at their discretion, for re- 
building or enlarging it, as they might think proper. 

" By statutes, the lord lieutenant and privy council, archbishops or bishops, might 
order new churches to be built in better places : and when the site was to be so 
changed, the consent of the majority of Protestant parishioners, in vestry assem- 
bled, was sufficient to assess any rate iviihonl limit, for building the new church. 

" They might also convert a parish church into a cathedral ; and, vice versa, a 
cathedral into a parish church : and levy any rates for those purposes. 

" By statute, also, archbishops and bishops might erect new churches, as they 



400 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

To render this state of things more grievous, landlords, or land- 
owners were exempt from paying any part of the rates. The occupy- 
ing lessee tvas, by statute, obliged to pay them — and those lessees were 
generally Roman Catholics. — Statement of Penal Laws, 149. 

My limits forbid me to proceed further, and therefore I cannot enu- 
merate a variety of other exclusions, disqualifications, and penalties, 
to which the Catholics of Ireland were till lately subject, and to which 
the protestant ascendency clung with all the tenacity with which unjust 
power is eternally grasped by oppressors. I have given enough to show 
how utterly destitute of foundation was the opinion generally prevalent 
of the state of the oppressed Catholics — how illiberal and unjust their 
oppressors were — how grievous their suflerings — and how imperious the 
call on all liberal-minded men in the three kingdoms, to unite their ex- 
ertions to remove every remaining portion of the vile code from the 
Irish statutes, and restore the mass of the nation to their rights, so long 
and so unjustly withheld. 

— •"►>© @ ©<«.-— 

thought Jit ; and new parishes might be attached to such new churches, in case the 
former parish churches were thought too small or too distant, (of Ti-hich the I'ro- 
testant parisshioners were to be sole judges.) — Idem, 145. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 401 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Great natural advantages of Ireland. Soil. Climate. Harbours. 
Rivers. Lakes. Mines and Minerals. Fisheries, 

" And sure it is a most beautiful and sweet cnintry as any is under heaven, 
being stored throughout with many goodly rivers : replenished with all sorts of fish 
most abundantly ; sprinkled -with many very siveet islands and goodly lakes, like 
little inland seas, that will carry even shippes upon their waters; adorned with goodly 
woods even fit for building of houses and ships, so commodiously, as that if some 
princes in the -world had litem, they -would soone hope to be lords of all the seas, 
and ere long of all llie -world ; also fall of very g-ood ports and tiavetis opening 
npo?i England, as inviting us to come unto them, to see what excellent commodities 
that country can afford, besides the soyle itselfe most fertile, ft to yeeld all kinde 
of fruit that shall be committed thereujito. And lastly, the heavens most milde and 
temperate, though somewhat more moist in the parts towards the west." — Spejvcer, 
p. 28, Anno 1590. 

" I have visited all the provinces of that kingdom in sundry journies and circuits, 
wherein I have observed the good temperature of the air, the fruitfulness of the soil, 
the pleasant and commodious seats for habitations, the safe and large ports and 
havens lying open for traffic into all the west parts of the world ; the long inlets of 
many navigable rivers ; and so many great lakes and fresh ponds ■witliin the land, 
as tlie like are not to be seen in any part of Europe : the rich fshings and xuild 
foivl of all kinds ; and lastly, the bodies and minds of the people endued -witli ex- 
traordinary abilities by nature." — Sir John Davies, p. 1. Anno 1016. 

" Ireland is, in respect of its situation, the number of its commodious harbours, 
and the natural wealth which it produces, tlie fittest island to acquire riclies of any 
in tlie European seas ; for as by its situation it lies the most commodious for the 
West Indies, Spain, and the northern and east countries, so it is not only supplied 
by nature with all the necessaries of life, but can over and above export large quan- 
tities to foreign countries ; in so much that liad it been mistress of a free trade, no 
nation in Eu^&pe of its extent, could in an equal number of years, acquire greater 
■^vealtli." — Brown's Essays on Trade, Anno 1728, 

The most important natural advantages which nations enjoy, may 
be comprised under the heads — fertility of soil — salubrity of climate 
— capacious harbours fitted for external commerce — advantageous inter- 
section for internal trade by rivers — valuable mines and minerals — and 
productive fisheries. 

I propose to show that those advantages have been so liberally be- 
stowed on Ireland by a bounteous heaven, that nothing but the most 
horrible and blighting policy could have prevented her from enjoying 
as high a degree of happiness as ever fell to the lot of any nation.* 

" That Ireland greatly surpasses her sister country, England, in the aggregate of 
the endowments of nature, is abundantly obvious. And it may fairly be questioned 
whether the latter, actually abounding in wealth beyond any other country in Europe, 
can boast of any one natural advantage, ivhich tlie former does 7iot possess in a 
superior degree." — Neweniiam, 86. 

* For the contents of this chapter, I am almost entirely indebted to a most excel- 
lent work of Thomas Newenham, entitled " A View of the Natural, Political, and 
Commercial Circumstances of Ireland." From Arthur Young I have likewise boi- 
rowed freely. 



402 VINDIGI^ HIBEKNIC.^. 



Soil. 



With respect to soil, Ireland is blest in the highest degree. Arthur 
Young, an Knglish traveller, who devoted half his life to agricultural 
inquiries and investigations, has pronounced sentence on this point, 
from which there is no appeal. He says that " natural fertility, acre 
for acre, over the two kingdoms, is certainly in favour of Ireland," — 
and further, that in proportion to the size of the two countries, Ireland 
was, when he wrote, much more cultivated, having much less waste 
land of all sorts.* 

Ireland, likewise, exceeds France in the proportion of cultivated 
lands ; considerably more than two-thirds of the former being cultivated ; 
whereas there are less than two-thirds of the latter.* 



— ">^9@®♦H• — 



*"To judge of Ireland by the conversation one sometimes hears in England, it 
would be sujjposed that one-half of it was covered with bogs, and the other with 
moimtains tilled with Irish, ready to fly at the sight of a civilized being. There 
are people who will smile when they hear that in prnpo)-tion to the size of the t-wo 
countries, Ireland is more cultivaferl than England, having much lessivaste kind 
of all sorts. Of unciiltivaled mountains there are 7io such iracts as are found 
in our four northern counties, and. the J\'urth Hiding of Yorkshire, ivith the 
easterfi line of Lancaster, nearly doion to the peak of Derby, -ivhich form an ex- 
tent of above a hundred miles of waste. The most considerable of this sort in Ireland 
are in Deny, Galway, and Mayo, and some in Sligo and Donnegal. But all these 
together will not make the quantity we have in the four northern counties ; the val- 
lies in the Irish mountains are also more inhabited, I think, than those of England, 
except where there are mines, and consequently some sort of cultivation creeping up 
the sides. (j^JVatm'al fertility, acre for acre, over the tivo hingdoms, is certainly 
in favour of Ireland; of this I believe there can scarcely be a doubt entertained, 
v^ hen it is considered that some of the more beautiful, and even best cultivated coun- 
tries in England, owe almost every thing to the capital, art, and industry of the in- 
habitants." — Young, II. part ii. p. 3. 

" The traveller who hastens through Ireland as most British tourists do, and be- 
holds its rishest pastures overgrown with thistles, fern, ragwort, and other weeds, 
will luid it dillicult to believe that its soil is much more fertile than that of the 
highly cultivated fields of England. " You must examine into the Irish soil," adds 
Mr. Young " before you can believe, that a country which has so beggarly an appear- 
ance, can be so rich and fertile." — Idem, II. 147. 

" //" Iieas to name the characteristics of an excellent soil, I should say that 
upon tvhich you may fat an ox, and feed off a crop of turnips. By the leay I 
recollect little or no siicli land in England, yet it is not ■>r)icommon in Ireland.'" — 
Young, II. 211. 

" In the statistical survey of the count}' of Meath, it is stated that the lands of 
Diamcr in the barony of Fowre are so very rich that the first 10 or 12 crops are 
quite useless, running to straw, and lodging; that 50 bullocks of 8 cwt. were fattened 
on 48 acres of the lands of Skreene; and that in the year 1800, which was very dry 
and unfavourable, 76 cows and two bulls were supported on 77 acres." — Newen- 
HAM, 81. 

" In at least 18 out of 32 counties, there are tracts of land, which, for the most 
part, are not to be surpassed in natural fertility by perhaps any other land in the 
ivorld. And to an equality with these, it is certain that a vast proportion of the re- 
maining bogs might easily be brought." — Idem, 82. 

* " That Ireland surpasses France, in the proportion of her cultivated land, is suf- 
ficiently confirmed by the concurren statements of Mr. Young and others, who have 



CHAPTER XXXV'II. 403 

Of the unreclaimed lands of other conntries, a large portion is wholly- 
unfit for cultivation ; whereas, the greater part of those in Ireland may 
be easily reclaimed and rendered highly productive.* 

One striking advantage Ireland possesses, probably in a degree be- 
yond any other country. The rocks and mountains, which elsewhere, 
are generally bare, or covered only with useless weeds or wild shrubs, 
are in Ireland, clothed with luxuriant verdure. f 

In no part of tlie bounties of nature as regards soil, is Ireland more 
fortunate, than in the superabundance of manures of almost every kind, 
and of the very best quality.! 

made the soil of the latter a subject of their researches. Mr. Young's distribution 
of the land of France is as follows, viz : 

Arable and Lucerne 75,000,000 

Meadow^s 4,000.000 

Vines .--.,--- 5,000,000 



Total of cultivated land 84,000,000 



Woods 19,850,000 

Wastes 27,150.000 



Total of uncultivated land .... 47,000,000 
or upwards of one-third of the whole." — Newf.xham, 65. 

* " A vast proportion of the unreclaimed land of other countries is almost utterly 
unproductive, or completely sterile ; a vast proportion of the unreclaimed land of 
Ireland is undoubtedly the contrary. In other countries the operation of reclaiming 
requires considerable skill ; and in most instances is attended with immense ex- 
pense. In Ireland, where nature is rather to be assisted than overcome, it requires 
but little skill ; and the attendant expense, if viewed in conjunction with the future 
permanent profit, is scarcely sufficient to deter the most timid speculator. In most 
other countries, the natural means of fertalizing such land as has been prepared by 
any expensive process for the plough, are extremely scanty : in Ireland they are 
almost every where found in the greatest abundance and perfection." — Jdem, 66. 

f " In most of the mountainous districts of Ireland, 5000 acres will be found to 
yield more and better food for cattle than 100,000 in many parts of Scotland and 
Wales!.! The Irish mountains arc entirely different from those of the countries 
just mentioned. Herbage of some sort or other grows on the very summits of some 
of the loftiest in Ireland ; but in Scotland, and for the most part in Wales, cattle 
stray from their pasture as they ascend the mountain's brow. The peculiar tendency 
of the Irish soil to grass is such, that the mountainous land yields good sustenance 
to prodigious droves of young cattle." — Nf.wi;?««am, 66. 

"The mountains of Ireland are the principal nurseries for those immense herds 
of bullocks and cows which are fattened or fed on the luxuriant low lands ; and 
almost the only nurseries for those which are annually exported to England, and of 
which the number in four years, ending 5th January 1804, amounted to 106,578, 
worth, according to the prices current in that year, 1,044,404/. The number ex- 
ported in two years, ending 5th January 1800, was 54,115." — Idem, 07. 

" If as much rain fell upon the clays of England, (a soil very rarely met with 
in Ireland, and never without much stone.) as falls upon the rocks of her sister island, 
those lands could not be cultivated. But tJie rocks here are clothed -u-ith verdure. 
Those of limestone, with only a thin covering of moidd, have the softest and most 
beautiful hirf imag-inable .'" — YouNff, II. part ii. 3. 

t " In those parts of most countries which are remote from large towns, the culti- 
vation of a farm, owing to a deficiency of good natural manincs, must, in general, be 
proportionate to the stock of cattle kept thereon. But in Ireland where such manures 
almost every where abound, the dung of cattle is not indispensably requisite to the 
progress of agriculture ; and accordingly much less attention is paid to its collection 



404 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

Climate. 

The climate of Ireland is remarkable for its mildness, particularly in 
the southern province, where the tields gener-ally afford pasturage for 
the cattle during the winter. They are rarely housed.* The severity 
of that season, experienced in most other countries of so high a latitude, 
is here almost altogether unknown. Snows and ice, to any considerable 
extent, are rarely experienced.! 

The chief disadvantage under which Ireland labours, is the excessive 

than is observable in otlier countries. Labour and skill alone will render the lands of 
Ireland fertile in the extreme; but the labour and skill of man require in most other 
countries, an additional agent for producing this eflect. Mr. Young tells us, that on 
the coast of Mayo, where sea and other manures are in f)lenty, "the common people 
let their dunghills accumulate till they become such a nuisance that they remove their 
cabins to get rid of them." He says likewise, and the fact is well known, that the 
dung of the city of Limerick was generally thrown into the river Shannon." — New- 

ENHAM, 73. 

" With the exception of the counties of Wexford, Wicklow, Tyrone, and Antrim, 
limestone is found in the greatest abundance, in every county of Ireland ; as is also, 
with the exception of a few counties, that incomparable manure, limestone gravel. 
White, grey, and blue marls, of the best quality, are likewise found in most of the 
counties, and compensate in some of them, especially in Wexford, for a deficiency of 
lime." — NEWENHA^sr, 74. 

" The seacoasts, likewise, from which, by the way, no part of L-eland is at a greater 
distance than 50 miles, furnish an inexhaustible supply of manures. Coral sand, a 
manure of superior value, is f(5und on the south coast in Baltimore bay ; on the south- 
west coast in Bantra bay ; on the west coast in Tralee bay, Clew bay, Roundstone 
bay, Kilkcrran harbour, and Galway bay ; on the north coast in Mulroy harbour; on 
the cast coast of Bray head, in the county of Wicklow, and in other places. Shelly 
sand, which nearly equals the coral in elicct, is found on the south-west coast in Dun- 
manus bay; on the east coast, near Burr Island, in Kcd Bay, and in many other 
parts of the same coast. Sea weeds, sea sand of different colours, and sea ooze, are 
found in abundance all round the coast ; and, except the last, which has lately been 
found to be a very good manure, are every where used, with excellent cfl'ect, by the 
farmers who live within five or six miles of the coast." — Idem, 75. 

* " A very great proportion of the fat cattle sent to Waterford, Limerick, and Cork, 
are never housed. The cattle slaughtered in the market of Cork, in the months of 
February and March, with the exception of those fattened at the distilleries, are eight 
out of ten, fattened wholly on grass. The dairy cows in the province of Munster 
are never, through downright necessity, housed. In a part of the county of Kerry 
the people often leave their potatoes in the beds without additional covering during 
the winter; and they have been known to obtain two crops of corn from the same 
land within a year." — Idem, 41. 

■j" " In respect of mildness and equability, qualities of a very advantageous nature, 
the climate of Ireland is surpassed by very few, if by any other in Europe. At a 
time, when in consequence of the unreclaimed and uncleared state of the country, the 
climate must necessarily have been inferior to what it now is, Giraldus Cambrensis 
spoke of it in the following terms, "Terra terrarum temperatissima, nee cancri calor 
exEestnanscompellit ad umbras, nee ad focos capricorni rigor invitat, aeris amcenitate 
tempcriequc tempora fere cuncta tepcscunt." Its general mildness, indeed, is such, 
that, except in the northern counties, the rich pastures, or those which have been 
fairly treated, exhibit in the midst of winter, the most beautiful verdure imaginable, 
affording sustenance to cattle throughout the year. The rigours of the winter, which, 
together with the scantiness of natural manures, render the beast house and foddering 
yard primary objects of the farmer's attention, in other countries, are seldom, and in 
few parts, experienced in Ireland. And accordingly, there is not a country in Europe, 
north of the Alps, where places for the accommodation of cattle are so rarely to be 
found." — Idem, 40. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 405 

rains which prevail there, and sometimes injure the harvests, and de- 
feat the hopes of the Jiusbandman. This moisture of the climate would, 
a priori, lead to an opinion that it was injurious to health. But expe- 
rience, the unerring test of theories, overturns this doctrine, how plausi- 
ble soever it might appear. There is no nation more robust or hardy.* 

Harbours, Rivers, and Lakes. 

Ireland is as highly endowed by nature with these very important 
means of promoting national wealth, power, and resources, as in any 
other respect whatever ; and, in proportion to its extent, does not yield 
to any nation in the world in this respect. The coast is so copiously 
indented with harbours, that they lie almost universally within a few 
miles of each other. f — [New^enham, 8.] They are, with scarcely 
an exception, superior to those of England, j: 

The rivers are uncommonly numerous. § The country was surveyed 
some years since, with a view to internal improvement by canals; and 
thirty-two rivers were found, capable of being rendered navigable at 
an expense not exceeding ten shillings sterling per head of the popula- 
tion of the island, II 

— >•^^e®®«<"— 
*"The humidity of the Irish atmosphere proves by no means injurious to the 
health of the inhabitants ; on the contrary, it being generally accompanied by an in- 
creased agitation of the air, they enjoy better health, during the prevalence of the wet 
winds which blow from the Atlantic ocean, than at other times." — Idem, 43. 

•j- " Taking one district with another, there is a harbour, or safe anchoring place, to 
about every 150 square miles, or every 96,000 acres." — Idem, 8. 

ii- " There are 7iot tioenty harbours in Enghmd and Wales which can be classed 
with forty of the best in Ireland: nor, with perhaps the single exception of Milford, 
which is about seven miles long and one broad, with from four to thirteen fathoms on 
a bottom of mud, is there one in the former, which can, in almost any respect, be 
compared with the best ten in the latter ; and if the safe anchoring places be added to 
the harboui's of each country, Ireland will rank above England, not only in capacious- 
ness, safety, and proportionate number of harbours, but likewise in the general number 
of places for the accommodation of shipping, there being one hundred and thirty-six 
harbours and anchoring places belonging to the former; and, as far as appeared by 
the charts which the writer has examined, only one hundred and twelve to the lat- 
ter." — Idem, 14. 

§ " So numerous are the rivers of Ireland, in proportion to its size, and so abundant 
the supply of water, that we may safely say, almost every parish might enjoy the 
benefits of internal navigation, at an expense which, one place with another, many a 
company of British undertakers would disregard, and that very few parts of Ireland, 
comparatively speaking, would be found ineligible for the establishment of manufac- 
tures through a deficiency of water, or the want of water-carriage. Of 248 mills for 
grinding corn, erected in Ireland between the years 1758 and 1790, every one, as far 
as the writer can learn, is turned by vs^ater. Windmills are in no country less com- 
mon, or less necessar}', than in this." — Ibid. 

II "Thirty-two rivers were found, by actual survey, to be fit and capable of being 
rendered navigable, whereof the united lengths, in addition to that of the Shannon, 
and those of the projected canals, exceed one thousand miles. 

"Had the proposed works, therefore, been carried into effect, ten thousand square 
miles, or 6,400,000 acres, would, at furthest, have been within five miles of some 
navigable river or canal. And if to this be added the sinuous line of the Irish coast, 
comprising 1737 miles, it will be seen that 18,685 square miles, or 11,958,400 acres, 
which constitute almost two-third parts of the area of Ireland, would have lain within 

51 







406 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC.E. 

After having enumerated eighteen rivers, the Shannon, the Barrow, 
the Suir, the Nore, the Blackwater, the Slaney, the Bann, the Boyne, 
&c., the writer proceeds : 

"In respect of navigable rivers, as well as relative situation and harbours, Ireland 
certainly has the advantage of England. If the best eighteen rivers in the latter be 
duly compared, in every particular, with those which have just been imperfectly de- 
scribed, the inferiority of the English rivers, upon the whole, will be clearly perceived. 
The Thames; the Severn, the Humber, the Medway, the Dee, the Mersey, the Lon, 
the Orwell, the Yare, and the Kibble, have all of them, sand-banks at their entrance, 
which, except in the instance of the Slaney, is not the case with any of the Irish 
rivers ; and which render the navigation in those important parts, intricate, and, in 
some instances, dangerous. Their streams are not, for the most part, near so copio\is, 
nor do they flow through such extremely fertile land, as the rivers of Ireland. The 
Tweed, Tync, Tees, Were, Wye, and Avon, are, no doubt, fine rivers ; but in several 
respects they will be found to fall short of a considerable number of those of which 
Ireland can boast." — Newenham, 25. 

The island is, moreover, studded with lakes, many of which afford an 
easy communication with tlie seas which surround the coast, and all of 
which might be rendered highly instrumental in promoting the national 
prosperity.* 

Mines and Minerals. 

There is probably not a country in the world, which, for its extent, 
is one-half so abundantly supplied with the most precious minerals and 
fossils as Ireland.! The enumeration made by Newenham,^ as stated 

— •"»►© ® c « *<* ■ 

five miles of sea, river, or canal ; and three millions of money, faithfully and skilfully 
expended, would probably be more than sufficient for the purpose." — Idem, 27. 

" In addition to a vast number of rivers, several of them navigable, many of them 
considerable, which lose themselves in others, in the interior parts of the country, 
there are in Ireland, exclusive of small streams, one hundred and twenty-five which 
flow directly and immediately into the sea, or its different inlets. 

" The maritime counties comprise two-thirds of the land of Ireland. Each of them 
has from two to twelve of the rivers in proportion to the extent of its seacoast, nor, 
with the exception of Wicklow, is there one of them which has not the advantage of 
one or more rivers, either actually navigable, to a very considerable distance from the 
sea, or capable of being rendered so at a moderate expense. — Newenham, 18. 

"Many of the inland counties likewise jjarticipate this advantage with those on the 
coast. Indeed there is not one of them which might not be rendered capable of en- 
joying it." — Ibid. 

* " The lakes of Ireland which discharge their sviperfluous waters immediately into 
the sea, may also be considered, with reference to tlie benefits of commerce, as ex- 
tremely important advantages. Of this description are loughs Neagh, Earne, Corrib, 
Conn, Nallenroe, Mclvin, Arrow, Lilly, Rapharn and Furran, Ballinahinch lough, 
the lake of Killarncy, or Lough Lane, and several others of inferior note." — Idem, 28. 

+ " There is not a county in Ireland which does not contain some valuable mineral 
or fossil ; several of them, it is now ascertained, abound with treasures of this sort ; 
and these, for the greater part, are most happily situated for the exportation of their 
products, either in a rude or manufactured state." — Idem, 45. 

4: "The following account, drawn from the statistical surveys of 17 counties, the 
writings of Dr. Smith, the specimens in the museum of the Dublin Society, the 
communication of Mr. Donald Stewart, itinerant mineralogist of that society, and 
from the information of others, will serve, notwithstanding its deficiency, to give a 
sufficient view of the miu'^rals and fossils of Ireland. 

" Armagh contains lead, oclucs of different colours, and various beautiful marbles. 

"Antrim contams coal and gypsum in abundance, beautiful chrystals, pebbles, and 
different sorts of ochres. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 407 

in the annexed note, must excite the astonishment of the reader, who 
could not possibly have conceived the extent to which nature had car- 

" Carlow contains granite, talk, marbles, chrystals, and ochres. 

" Cavan contains fine lead ore, iron, coal, ochres, clay, fuller's-earth, sulphur, cop- 
per, silver, and jasper. 

" Clare contains lead, iron, copper, coal, and beautiful spars like those of Derby- 
shire. 

" Cork contains lead, iron, copper, coal, fine slate, extremely beautiful marbles of 
a great variety of colours, petrifactions, brown and yellow ochres, excellent potter's- 
clay, and amethysts of great beauty. 

" Donegal contains rich lead ore, immense quantities of different sorts of clays, 
coal, silicious sand, manganese, iron, beautiful granite, chalcedony, marble resembling 
that which is called statuary marble, and granites. 

" Down contains iron, fuller's-earth, soap-stone, rich lead, marbles of different sorts, 
chrystals, granite, copper, and very fine slate. 

" Dublin contains copper, lead, ochres of different colours, potter's-clay, beautiful 
pebbles, chiystals, and porphyry. 

" Fermanagh contains rich iron ore and coal. 

" Galway contains rich lead, chrystals, pearls, and marbles of superior beauty. 

" Kerry contains abundance of rich copper, lead, beautiful marbles of various com- 
binations of colours, cobalt, chrystals, pearls, and amethysts. 

" Kildare contains marbles of different colours, which bear a higher polish than 
those brought from Italy, 

" Kilkenny contains iron, coal, ochres, pipe and potter's-clay, marbles (some of 
them singular and beautiful), granite, and jasper. 

" King's County contains a silver mine near Edenderry, but not worked these 40 
years. 

" Limerick contains iron, copper, lead, coal, and fine slate. 

" Londonderry contains iron, copper, lead, abundance of chrystals, beautiful pebbles, 
and petrifactions found near Lough Neagh, granite, and handsome marbles. 

" Leitrim contains inexhaustible stores of iron and coal, copper, blue, green, yellow, 
pale red, and crimson-coloured clays, fuller's-earth, and garnites. 

" Longford contains great variety of marbles, ochres, lead, fine slate, extremely 
rich iron ore, and jasper. 

" Louth contains ochres and fuller's-earth. 

" Mayo contains abundance of iron ore, ochres, granite, coal, slate of a superior 
■quality, beautiful black marble without speck, and manganese. 

" Meath contains ochres, and rich and abundant copper ore. 

" Monaghan contains iron, lead, manganese, coal, marble, fuller's-earth, and an- 
timony. 

" Queen' s-county contains iron, coal, copper, marble, ochres, fuller's-earth, and 
potter's-clay. 

" Roscommon contains ochres, coal, iron, and marble exhibiting the petrified skele- 
tons of different animals, and bearing a very high polish. 

" Shgo contains iron, copper, lead, coal, fine clays, talk, silver, and, in abundance 
near the coast, a stone which bears a high polish, and is called serpent stone, from 
figures which it exhibits resembling the skeletons of these animals. 

" Tipperary contains rich and abundant copper and lead mines, coal, silver, plenty 
of fine slate, clays, and the most beautiful marbles. 

" Tyrone contains iron, and plenty of good potter's-clay. 

" Waterford contains copper in abundance, iron, ochres, handsome pebbles, and, 
near the harbour, a most beautiful green and black marble. 

" Westmeath contains copper, lead, coal, and handsome yellow and dove-coloured 
marbles. 

" Wexford contains lead, copper, iron, marble, ochres, and a blue earth, 

" Wicklow contains chrystals, sulphur, manganese, copper in abundance, garnite,"j" 
lead, tin, and several other metallic substances, including gold. 

f Decayed granite used in the manufacture of poreelain. 



408 VINDICIiE HIBEKNIC.^. 

ried her bounties in this department, in which she has been liberal to a 
degree of prodigality.* 

Fisheries. 

For this inexhaustible source of wealth, Ireland is admirably situated 
— and, with proper encouragement, it might have been carried to an 
extent of national and individual benefit ten-fold what it has ever pro- 
duced. Thousands of her superfluous population might find employ- 
ment in it, to their own advantage and that of the nation. But no 
adequate pains have ever been taken to cultivate even those advantages 
which Ireland might enjoy without interfering with the monopolizing 
spirit of England. t 

— i»»e©®«"— 

" By this account, incomplete as it is, Ireland appears to contain the following 30 
different sorts of minerals and fossils, viz. 



2. 


Amethysts. 


3. 


Garnites. 


4. 


Pebbles. 


1. 


Antimony. 


7. 


Granite. 


2. 


Petrifactions. 


15. 


Coal. 


1. 


Gypsum. 


1. 


Porphyry. 


1. 


Cobalt. 


19. 


Iron. 


1. 


Silicious sand. 


17. 


Copper. 


2. 


Jasper. 


3. 


Silver. 


1. 


Chalcedony. 


16. 


Lead. 


6. 


Slate. 


8. 


Chrystals. 


2. 


Manganese. 


1. 


Soap-stone. 


9. 


Clays of various sorts. 


19. 


Marble, 


1. 


Spars. 


6. 


FuIIer's-earth. 


15. 


Ochres. 


2. 


Sulphur. 


1. 


Gold. 


2. 


Pearls. 


2. 


Talk. 



"The figures prefixed to the different minerals and fossils, denote the number of 
counties in which they have been discovered." — Nkwestham, 45. 

" The gold mine at Croghan, in the county of Wicklow, began to attract attention 
about the year 1795. According to a calculation made on the subject, the sum of 
10,000/. was paid, at the rate of 3/. 15s. per ounce, to the country people, for the gold 
which they collected. Before the government took possession of the mine, there 
was found one piece of gold which weighed 22 ounces, and which is believed to be 
the largest ever found in Europe. From the commencement of the works to June, 
1801, there were found 599 ounces of gold." — Idem, 49. 

* "Mr. Lawson, an English miner, stated in evidence before the Irish house of 
commons, that the iron-stone at Arigna lay in beds of from three to twelve fathoms 
deep ; and that it could be raised for two shillings and sixpence the ton, which is 
five shillings cheaper than in Cumberland; that the coal in the neighbourhood was 
better than any in England, and could be raised for three shillings and sixpence the 
ton ; and that it extended six miles in length, and five in breadth. He also stated 
that fire-brick clay, and free-stone of the best qualities, were in the neighbourhood, 
and that a bed of potter's clay extended there two miles in length, and one in breadth. 
Mr. Clarke, on the same occasion, declared that the iron-ore was inexhaustible. And 
our distinguished countryman, Mr. Kirwan, whose opinions on mineralogical sub- 
jects few will attempt to refute, affirmed that the Arigna iron was better than any 
iron made from any species of single ore in England." — Newenham, 50. 

-j- " There is scarcely a part of Ireland but what is well situated for some fishery of 
consequence ; and her coasts and innumerable creeks and rivers' mouths are the 
resort of vast shoals of herrings, cod, ling, hake, mackerel, etc. which might with 
proper attention be converted into funds of wealth." — Idem, 52. — Youxg, II.p. ii. 186. 

" In 1784, there were 514 vessels engaged in the Irish fishery, giving employment 
to 3723 men and boys." — Newenham, 53. 

" The salmon fisheries of Ireland are, in proportion, infinitely more numerous and 
productive than those of any other country, the natural history whereof has fallen 
into the writer's hands. In various parts of Ireland, remote from each other, he has 
seen from 10 to 30 fine salmon taken at one drag. Mr. Daniel states that 1,452 
salmon were taken at one drag in the river Bann, in the year 1780 ; and 882 in like 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 409 

Materials for Roads. 

In this respect nature has been as bountiful to Ireland, as in any of 
those previously enumerated.* 

manner, in the year 1788 : that the salmon fishery there lets for 6000^., and the eel 
fishery for 1000/. a year." — Idem, 54. 

" The general price of the salmon at the Bann is 4f/. per pound ; at Ballyshannon 
in the Earne less ; and during the last lent, the Roman Catholic miners, employed 
at the copper mine near Killarney, paid but 2d. per pound, and were amply sup- 
plied." — Ibid. 

* '• In respect of materials for the construction of smooth and durable roads, no 
country in the world can be more happily circumstanced than Ireland. With the 
exception of four or five counties, lime-stone, which is one of the best materials, is 
found in most districts in the greatest abundance ; as is also, with the same excep- 
tion, that incomparable material, lime-stone gravel. Roads, properly repaired with 
these materials, ought, though much frequented, to last at least ten years. The wri- 
ter knows, by experience, that they may be made to last fifteen." — Idem, 29. 



410 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC.E. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Blighting and loithering policy of England toivards Ireland. Lord 
Strafford'' s destructive project. Illiberal addresses of the English 
parliament to king William. JVoollen manifacture crushed. 
Silk manifacture. Glass manufacture. Duties in England and 
Ireland. ^ • 

" Under the paralysing effects of the mercantile spirit, the legislature of Britain 
really treated the people of Ireland, unprotected as tliey -were by an independent 
parliament, or rather -wantonli/ and treaclieroiisly exposed to ill treatment by a de- 
pendent or mercenary one, much worse than that legislature did or could have treated 
the people of any of those countries, with which, in the vicissitudes of politics, it 
might frequently be engaged in war." — Newenham, 106. 

" To cramp, obstruct, and render abortive tlie industry of tJie Irish, iverethe ob- 
jects oftlie Jiritisli trader. To gratify commercial avarice, to serve Britain, at tfie 
expense of Ireland, or to facilitate tlie government of the latter, were the varying 
objects of the British minister. To keep down the Papists, cost what it would, and 
to augment their own revenues by the public money, instead of urging the adoption 
of wise, liberal, and patriotic measures, calculated to quadruple the rents of their es- 
tates, were the objects of the reputed representatives of the Irish people ; and, to secure 
themselves from retaliation on the part of the Roman Catholics, whom tJiey xuere 
encouraged to persecute, and taught to dread, was the general object of the Irish 
gentry." — Idem, 97. 

" Almost all the acts aflecting the trade and manufactures of Ireland, which passed 
in the British and Irish parliaments, anterior to 1799, except those in the latter, 
which related to the linen manufacture, will be found to aim at promoting tfte com- 
mercial welfare of Britain, exclusively ; at restricting tlie trade, and suppressing 
the manufactures of Ireland ; or, at precluding all commercial reciprocity betxveen 
the two coimtries." — Idem, 120. 

It has been established in the preceding chapter, that Ireland is blest 
by nature in as high a degree, as any country in the world, without 
exception. If she be excelled by some in a more genial climate, this 
disadvantage, the only one of importance under which she labours, is 
amply compensated by various advantages, from which some of those 
nations whose climate is preferable, are debarred. Let other countries 
most highly favoured by nature, be successively compared with her, 
and the soundness of this position will appear incontrovertible. It 
might be supposed that such transcendent blessings being lavished on 
Ireland, she must enjoy as high a degree of happiness as any other 
country whatever. But this calculation would be miserably erroneous. 
It will appear, from the sketches I shall give in the next chapter, that 
the Irish peasantry are in as wretched a state as any people in Europe, 
perhaps in the world — and indeed more wretched than nine-tenths of 
the peasantry on the surface of the globe. 

The question is, how such a blessed tree should produce such bitter 
fruit — how such masses of wretchedness could be shed over a land so 
transcendently favoured ? 

The answer is obvious. The monopolizing spirit of England has 
pressed, like an incubus, on the sister island, blasted all its blessings, 
and entailed on it unutterable woes. Whenever the interests of the 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 411 

Avhole Irish nation came in collision even with those of a single city, 
town, or corporation in England, they were offered up a sacrifice on 
the altars of avarice and cupidity without remorse and without control. 
Of course, in every case, when the great national interests on both 
sides interfered, those of the Irish were unfeelingly devoted to 
destruction. 

Throughout the whole career of the connexion, there has scarcely 
been one measure adopted on the part of England towards Ireland 
with the semblance of a magnanimous policy, except when forced 
from her fears during the American revolution. 

Lest these positions should appear overstrained and the result of 
prejudice, I deem it necessary to fortify them by incontrovertible 
English and Irish authorities, which cannot fail to impose a reluctant 
silence on the spirit of cavil. 

" The object of that species of policy which the British government had exercised 
towards Ireland, had been to debar her from the enjoyment and use of her oivii re- 
sources, and to make it completelij subservient to the interest and opulejice of 
Britain." — Newexham, 89. 

" In reviewing the different acts of the parliaments of Britain and Ireland, which 
affected the trade of the latter, it will be found that the trade of a distinct kingdom, 
the trade of an essential part of the British empire, ivas unsuitably, imjustly, un- 
iviseli/, and oppressively limited, like that of a colony ; that the prosperity of Ireland 
■was ahvays sacrificed to that of Britain ; that, with the exception of the linen, every 
valuable manufacture established in Ireland, or of tlie establishment or even intro- 
duction -whereof there -was any prospect, and tvhich ivas likely to become in any 
degree a competitor, eitlier in Ihe home or foreign market, xvith a similar one under- 
taken in Britain, however insignificant, was industriozisly depressed ; that the 
Irish were invariably obliged to give the preference to the produce of British indus- 
try ; that, with the foregoing exception, no manufacture of Ireland was faii'ly received 
by Britain; that downright necessity, alone, occasioned tht; admission of even the 
rude produce of the former into the latter ; that the acts of the Irish parliament, 
which affected to aim at internal improvements, calculated to enlarge the trade of 
the country, or which purported to be for the advancement of any lucrative species 
of enterprize, were, for the most part, merely illusive." — Idem, 97. 

" The exercise of any right, on the part of Ireland, which, even in speculation, was 
likely to prove in the least degree prejudicial to the most trivial manufacture of Eng- 
land, was utterly inconsistent with that illiberal and impolitic system which the latter 
pursued with regard to the former, and in which the Irish parliament basely concurred : 
a system constituted of acts completely obstructive of every species of Irish competi- 
tion in the English market; restrictive of almost every species of mercantile and 
manufacturing i?idtcstry in Ireland ; and corroborative of that English competition, 
in the Irish market, which tended to foster every infant manufacture of England, and 
to overwhelm every similar one in Ireland. Whenever any manufacture, or branch 
of industry, in England, ivas thoughtf^o reqidre encouragement, the Irish parlia- 
ment readily imposed duties on similar ones from other countries, admitting those 
from Britain duty free. Whenever the exigencies of the Irish governmeJit re- 
quired the imposition of duties on merchandise imported, the British ivere uniformly 
exempted. And whenever an infant manufacture in Ireland seemed likely to rival a 
similar one in Britain, the same practice was pursued, thus opening a field for the 
usual efficacy of sicpcrior British capitals in overpowering the unaided industry of 
Ireland." — Idem, 118. 

To enter into a full detail of this cruel and withering policy would 
require a volume. I shall confine myself to a mere sketch, which, 
however, will be abundantly sufficient to satisfy the reader that the 
connexion of Ireland with England, has produced the misery and 
wretchedness of one of the fairest portions of the earth. 

I shall not go further back than the time of lord Stafford, in 1636, 
as the records of the commercial and trading policy pursued towards 



412 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

Ireland, though occasionally glanced at, are not sketched in history, 
with sufficient precision, before that period. 

One of the earliest measures of Strafford's administration was to 
suppress and destroy the woollen manufacture in Ireland.* For this 
manufacture the luxuriant pasturage of the island particularly quali- 
fies it. 

It 1665, the importation from Ireland into England of great catde, 
sheep, and swine, beef, pork, and bacon, was voted " a common 
nuisance,''^ and subjected to forfeiture.! These were the chief articles 
of export of the Irish at the time, for agriculture was at so low an 
ebb, that they did not raise much more of the fruits of the earth, than 
sufficed for their own consumption — and the measures taken by lord 
Strafford, and the havoc of the long civil war, had so far destroyed the 
manufacture of woollens, that they were unable to make any consider- 
able quantity for exportation. This wicked measure ruined thousands 
of the Irish, who had wholly depended on the sale of cattle for their 
subsistence, and who were thus consigned to ruin. 

This prohibition, however, led to the extension of the woollen manu- 
facture in Ireland, for which the raw material was furnished by the 
fleeces of the sheep that would have been exported to England 
and fostered the manufacture there. At a subsequent period, this 
manufacture was making considerable progress in Ireland. The great 
increase of the flocks of sheep, and the cheapness of labour, had given 
it a considerable spring. The deadly jealousy and hostility of the 
English, always operating as a blight and a pestilence to Irish pros- 
perity, was aroused, and the destruction of this important manufacture 
was determined on. Both houses of the British parliament presented 

— "•►►e ©*♦«•— 

* " Wisdom advises to keep this kingdom as much subordinate and dependent 
upon England as possible, and holding them fro7n the manufacture of -wool, (which, 
unless otherwise directed, I shatlby all means discourage,') and then inforciiig them 
to fetch their clotldng from tlience, and to take their salt from the king, (being that 
which preserves and gives value to all their native staple commodities,) how can they 
depart from us without nakedness and beggary ?" — Stafford, I. 193. 

In another letter, on the woollen trade, Statlbrd says — " / had and so should still 
discourage it all I could, 7t)iless otheriL'ise directed by his majesty, and their lord- 
ships, in regard it would trench not only upon the clothings of England, being our 
staple commodity, so as if they should manufacture their own wools, which grew to 
very great quantities, we sliould not only lose tlie profit ive made no~jj by indraping 
their -wools, but his majesty lose extremely by his customs ; and in conclusion, it 
might be feared, they would beat us out (f the trade itself, by underselling us, -which 
they -ivere -well able to do." — Idem, II. 19. 

+ " The exportation of lean oxen and cows from an insular country to any other, 
situated at a greater distance from it than thirty or forty leagues, and possessing a 
sufficiency for the use of its inhabitants, can never be attended with sufficient profit 
to induce the continuance of the practice. England was the only country lying near 
enough to Ireland to prompt the people of the latter to get rid of their redundant 
stock thus; and even in that country, in consequence of there being then no want of cat- 
tle, those of the Irish yielded very trivial profits, notwithstanding the proximity of 
the islands ; yet, from this species of traffic, the traffic, generally speaking, of a poor 
and depopulated country, it was deemed expedient to exclude the people of Ireland. 
Accordingly, the importation of black cattle and sheep was loaded with a heavy duty ; 
by 18 C. II. c. 2, t/ie importation of great cattle, sheep, and sivine, beefporic, and 
baccn, from Ireland, -was declared to be a common nuisance, and forbid, on pain of 
forfeiture ; and by 32 C. II. c. 2, forfeiture tvas extended to mutton, lamb, butter, 
and cheese, and made perpetual," — N£Wi;>'ham, 108. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 413 

addresses to king William, praying that he would discountenance the 
woollen manufacture of Ireland, as interfering with the interests of 
England — that is to say, that he would blast the fortunes and happiness 
of the thousands engaged in this manufacture, and equally blast the 
prosperity of the unfortunate country whose main source of wealth he 
was to cut up by the roots ! ! * 

To these addresses the king promised to pay attention. Several 
iniquitous actsf were immediately passed by the British parliament, 
prohibiting the exportation of wool,:j; woollen yarn, or woollen goods 
to any part of the world, except to Great Britain, on pain of forfeiture 
of ship and cargo, in addition to a penalty of 500/. for every offence. 
One of these acts contained a most profligate and disgraceful clause, 
that an acquittal in Ireland, should not operate as a bar to a new prose- 
cution in England ! ! ! ! 

King William in his reply to the addresses of the British parlia- 
ment, in order to soothe the Irish for the wanton and wicked sacrifice 
about to be perpetrated of their woollen trade, had pledged himself that 

—»►»©©»«•-— 

* " On the 9th June, 1698, the English lords presented an address to king Wil- 
liam III., stating, " that the growing manufacture of cloth in Ireland, both by the 
cheapness of all sorts of necessaries of life, and goodness of materials for making 
all mamier of cloth, doth invite his subjects of England, with their families and ser- 
vants, to leave their habitations and settle there, to the increase of the woollen manu- 
facture in Ireland, which makes his loyal subjects in this kingdom very apprehensive 
that the further growth of it may greatly prejudice the said manufacture here: and 
praying that his majesty would be pleased, in the most public and eifectual way that 
may be, to declare to all his subjects of Ireland, that the gro-wtli and increase of 
■woollen mannfacttire there hath long, and -will be ever lootced upon ivithjeulotisij by 
all his subjects of this kingdom." — Newenham, 103. 

" On the 30th of June, the commons presented a similar address ; and his majesty 
was pleased to say, in answer, " Gentlemen, I will do all that in me lies to discourage 
the woollen manufacture in Ireland." — Ibid. 

j" " These addresses were speedily followed by an act, 10 and 11 W. III. c. 10, 
prohibiting the exportation of wool, yarn, new drapery, or old drapery, from Ireland, 
to any other place but England, on pain of forfeiting ship and cargo, and 500/., for 
every offence ; no acquittal in Ireland being alloxved to bar a prosecution i?i En- 
gland/ ! / The permission to export the woollen manufactures of Ireland to England 
was merely illusive; the duties on importation into the latter being tantamount to a 
prohibition. The duties, moreover, were seconded in their effect by a duty of four 
shillings in the pound ad valorem, imposed by the Irish parliament, 10 W. c. 5, on 
all old drapery, (frize excepted,) and two shillings on all new drapery, exported from 
Ireland; "the better," as the obsequious commons of Ireland observed, "to enable 
his majesty to provide for the future safety of his liege people." — Ibid. 

\ " From the pains which were constantly taken to prevent the exportation of wool 
from England, and the facility with which its importation was permitted, it might 
be inferred, that the object of this act, which permitted the exportation of wool from 
certain ports in Ireland to certain others in England, was to serve the woollen manu- 
factures of the latter at the expense of those of the former. This restricted exporta- 
tion appears, however, to have had the effect of inducing the Irish to apply, with 
unusual assiduity, to their woollen manufactures. In consequence thereof it was 
deemed expedient to embarrass them ; and accordingly, by 9 and 1 W. III. c. 40, 
the exportation of fuller' s-earth and scouring-clay to Ireland -was prohibited under 
severe penalties."i — Idem, 102. 

^ Since that time plenty of excellent fuUer's-earlh has been discovered in Ireland. 

52 



414 VINDICI^ HIBERNlCiE. 

he would encourage the linen manufacture of Ireland. But during his 
whole reign there was not a single act passed for that purpose.* 

By an act passed anno 1695, the trade to the British colonies, which 
had been a source of great national benefit, was interdicted to the Irish. 
They were prohibited from importing any articles the growth or pro- 
duction of those colonies, without their being first landed, and having 
paid duties in England, which operated exactly as a positive prohibi- 
tion to the trade altogether.! 

The English parliament in one of its acts, appeared disposed to 
add insult and irony to injury. This act, passed in 1730, graciously 
permitted the direct importation into Ireland, of all articles of the 
growtli, production, or manufacture of the British plantations, with 
the exception of every thing but rum. A more solemn mockery or 
impertinent farce could scarcely be acted. i 

The Irisii, curbed and restricted in the woollen trade, entered into 
the manufacture of silk, in which they made considerable progress, 
and, had they been permitted to proceed uninterruptedly, it would have 
proved a source of great national gain, and given employment to thou- 
sands of persons who were'then in a state of starvation. But the mono- 
polizing spirit of England, and the corruption, venality, and destitution 
of public spirit of the Irish parliament, blasted it in the bud. An act 
was passed by the latter, in 1729, which exempted the silk manufac- 
tures of England from duty on importation into Ireland. This act 
sealed the destruction of the Irish manufacture. Ireland was deluged 
with English silks — tiie manufacturers were deprived of a market, and 
ruined, and their workmen devoted to penury. § 

In 1764, the Dublin societ}-, as patriotic and public-spirited a body 



* " In the reign of King William, there did not pass a single act for tlie encou- 
ragement oftlie linen manufacture in Ireland, although his majesty promised his 
commons of England to do all that in him lay to discourage the woollen, and en- 
coiirnqe the linen manii fact lire there.'' — Newknham, 116. 

■j- " By 7 and 8 of W. III. c. 22, it was declared, that no commodities of the growth 
or manufacture of the plantations shall, on any pretence whatsoever, be landed in 
Ireland or Scotland, unless the same has first been lauded in England ; and has paid 
the rates and duties with which they are chargeable by law. Thus was Ireland, 
while rendered incapable of making eliectual remonstrances by national imbecility, 
consequent on internal disunion, avariciously excluded from the direct lucrative trade 
of the whole western world." — Idem, 100. 

^ " By the act just alluded to, the people of Ireland obtained permission to import, 
directly from the plantations, into their own country, all goods, &c. of the growth, 
production, or manufacture of the said plantations, except sugars, tobacco, indigo, 
cotton, wool, molasses, ginger, pitch, tar, turpentine, jiiasts, yards and bowsprits, 
speclcle -wood, Jamaica wood, fustictc, or otlier dying ivoods, rice, beaver skins, or 
01 tier furs, or copper ore. In fact, this generous permission, to import directly from 
the plantations, may be considered as having been limited to rum ; the easy intro- 
duction of which was equally calculated to give additional employment to the people 
of the West Indies, and to circumscribe the use of the Irish spirits, the manufacture 
whereof was likely to prove, as it afterwards did prove, an efl'cctual encouragement 
to agriculture, that paramount and imperishable source of wealth and strength. — Ibid. 

§ " At the time of passing the act which exempted from duty the silk manufactures 
of Great Britain, there were, according to the evidence given before the Irish parlia- 
ment, in 1784, eight hundred silk looms at work in Ireland. Thirty-six years after 
there were but fifty : and thus 3000 persons were driven to beggary or emigra- 
tion." — Idem, 119. 



CHAPTEU XXXVIII. 415 

as ever assembled, established a silk warehouse in the capital, where 
the sales amounted to above 300,000 dollars annually. But this was 
blasted by the same detestable policy which has so constantly watched, 
with unwinking eyes, to destroy tlie prosperity of Ireland. An act 
was passed, anno 1785, which prohibited the society from disposing of 
any part of its funds for the support of any house where Irish silk 
goods were sold. By this act the warehouse was totally ruined. — Pic- 
ture of Dublin, 194. 

The Irish having carried on the brewing of beer, ale, and porter, and 
the manufacture of glass, to great extent, and with very considerable 
national and individual advantage, the hostility and jealousy of the En- 
glish brewers and glass manufacturers were excited, and tlie oppressed 
Irish, engaged in those useful arts, abandoned and betrayed by their 
miserable parliament, were sacrificed to the monopolizingspirit of their 
rivals. Two acts were passed, which in a great measure laid the 
brewery and glass manufactory prostrate. By one, all hops, landed in 
Ireland, except British, were directed to be burned,* and a duty of 
three pence per pound, over and above all other duties, customs, and 
subsidies, was imposed on the exportation of the article from Great 
Britain. By the other iniquitous act, the importation into Ireland of 
glass from any place other than Britain — and the exportation of the ar- 
ticle from Ireland to any place whatsoever, were prohibited under 
penally of forfeiture of ship and cargo, and a heavy fine pier pound for 
all the glass found on board. \ 

Under a succession of such outrageous violations of the rights of Ire- 
land, it is not wonderful that her tonnage has been confined to a degree 
scarcely credible. Though her population is half that of England and 
Wales, the English carry on six-sevenths of the navigation of Ireland. | 

* "It was enacted by 7 G. II. c. 19, that all hops landed in Great Britain and Ire- 
land, except British hops in the latter, should be burned, and the ship forfeited." — 
Newexham, 105. 

-j- " By 19 G. II. c. 12, the importation of glass into Ireland, from any place but 
Britain, and the exportation of g'lasa from Ireland, to any place ivliais )ever, xvere 
prohibited, on pain of forfeiture of ship and cargo, and a penalty often shillings for 
every pound tveight of glass put on board, or on shore, on the master and every per- 
son aiding and assisting therein. Had it not been for this violent and unwarranta- 
ble act, patiently acquiesced in by the subordinate and mercenary parliament of 
Ireland, it is not unlikely that Ireland would have surpassed and undersold Britain 
in the glass manufacture, as it certainly would have done in the woollen ; for in 
respect of all the raw materials taken together, the former was as favourably circum- 
stanced as the latter; in respect of the principal ingredient of the crown-glass manu- 
facture, (kelp,) much more so ;§ and in respect of cheapness of labour it also had 
the advantage." — Idem, 105, 

+ "In the year ended 5th of January, 1807, there were built and registered in 
Ireland only 41 vessels, the aggregate tonnage whereof amounted to no more than 
1,687 tons, or about 41 tons, on an average, each. The number of vessels belong- 
ing to the several ports of Ireland, on the 30th of September, 1806, was only 1,074, 
measuring 55,545 tons, or under 51J each, which is less than the tonnage of the 
shipping belonging to Whitehaven alone. The tonnage of Irish vessels, which 
entered inwards into the several ports of Ireland, in the year ended 5th of January, 
1808, was only 107,703, while that of British vessels was 652,946. And the 

§ It appeared by the evidence of Mr. Hurst, before the committee of the Privy Coun- 
cil, in 1785, that kelp, the most material ingredient in the crown-glass manufacture of 
England, was supplied by Ireland. 



416 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

In 1812, the tonnage of Great Britain was tons - - 2,421,695 
Whereas that of Ireland was only . - - - 57,103 

Whether any, and, if any, what, alteration has since taken place, I 
have no means of ascertaining. 

Among all the detestable means by which the prosperity and happi- 
ness of Ireland were sacrificed to English cupidity, one of the most 
shocking remains to be told. In all the former cases, the sacrifice was 
to promote the interests of Great Britain at large, or at least of conside- 
rable bodies of men. In the present, they were offered up to aggrandize 
half a dozen or a dozen persons. During the revolutionary war, under 
pretence of preventing the enemies of Great Britain from procuring su^ 
plies of provisions for their fleets and armies, their exportation was 
frequently prohibited for the benefit of the British contractors,* who 
were thereby enabled to purchase at half, or two-thirds, or three-fourths, 
of the usual prices. This sinister operation spread destruction through- 
out the south of Ireland, of which the main dependence has always 
been the sale of provisions. 

Nothing can more clearly show the utter disregard of justice of the 
British parliament in its legislation, whenever the interests of Ireland 
were concerned, and the servility of the Irish parliament, and its base 
sacrifice of the interests and welfare of the nation, than a comparison of 
the duties in England and Ireland, on the importation of goods from 
each other, as they existed in 1784, of which I annex a specimen. The 
whold system bore the same marks of iniquity and oppression. 

Duties on goods 

Imported into Engla7idfvom Ireland. Imported into Irelandfrom England. 

£ s. d. £ s. d. 

All manner of woollen cloths, Old drapery . . - 5 

per yard - - - 2 6 

Stuffs, made or mixed with New drapery . - - 1 

wool 5 11 

Refined sugar, per cwt. - 5 6 9 Refined sugar, per cwt. ' 113 11 

Spirits, single, not of British Spirits, single, not of British 

plantation, per gallon - 3 plantation, per gallon - 2 3 

Cotton manufactures, per cent. 29 15 10 Cotton manufactures, per cent. 9 18 5 

Linen and cotton mixed, per Linen and cotton mixed, per 

cent. - - - - 29 15 10 cent. - - - - 9 18 5 

Linen cloth, printed, per cent. 65 10 10 Linen cloth, printed, per cent. 9 18 5 

Leather manufactures per cent. 65 10 10 Leather manufactures per cent. 9 18 5 

Wrought silks prohibited - Wrought silks, per lb. - - 7 6 

Tallow candles, per cwt. - 1 9 8 Tallow candles, per cwt. - 5 6 

Starch, per cwt. - - - 4 12 1 Starch, per cwt. . - - 6 5 

— •»>»9©»«" — 

tonnage of Irish vessels, which cleared outwards, was only 97,856, while that of 
British vessels was 615,702, which last, being added to the tonnage of the British 
ships which entered inwards, makes a total, amounting to 1,268,648 tons, yielding to 
the ship owners of Britain, at only 1/. 10s. per ton, 1,902,972/." — Idem, 156. 

* " Not stopping with the gratification of the landholders of England, by prohibit- 
ing the importation of Irish cattle and provisions, the British government was 
frequently, and at a late period, inveigled into gratifying the avarice of a few contrac- 
tors, by laying embargoes on the e.vportation of Irish provisions, for the ostensible 
purpose of preventing the enemies of Britain from being supplied therewith ; but 
really for the sole benefit of the conti-actors, who thus became the 07tly purchasers." — 
Idem, 109. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 417 

Duties on goods 

Imported into England from Ireland. Imported into Irelandfrom England. 

£ s. d. £ s. d. 

Soap, per cwt. - - - 2 7 8 Soap, per cwt. - - - 5 11 

Checks, per piece, not above Checks, per piece, not above 

ten yards - - - 3 11 ten yards - - - 13 
And besides, for every 100^. 

value - - - 35 15 

Bed ticks, per cent. - - 29 15 Bed ticks, per cent. - - 9 15 8» 

It is impossible to examine this table without sighing over the profli- 
gate disregard of the eternal laws of honour and justice displayed by 
public bodies, unchecked by any sense of shame or disgrace. 

Had the British parliament decimated the whole nation, and imposed 
a poll tax of five guineas per head on the survivors, they would not have 
produced the tenth part of the misery caused by this odious and iniqui- 
tous system, which paralyzed the industry and energies of the Irish, and 
consigned so large a portion of them to idleness, misery, and wretched- 
ness. 

• Newenham, 106. N. B. I have omitted the fractions on both sides. 



418 VINDICIiE tJIBBKNIC^. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Extreme misery of the Irish peasantry, in point of food, clothing, and 
habitations. Potatoes and inilk, or potatoes and salt, the chief 
part of the fare of a large portion of them. 

When we see a suffering people, " with depressed minds and indolent habits. 
■we do not ascribe their poverty to the men luho govern them .- but no one who sees a 
mangy, half starved Jtock of sheep, ever doubts that it is the fault of the farmer to 
whom it belongs," — Maurice and Bkrghetta. 

" The misgovernnient and conserjuent misery of Ireland are chargeable, not upon 
the present minister, but upon the English nation generally , and upon all the states- 
men, of every persuasion, who have administered its affairs for the last two centu- 
ries.''— EA'm. Rev. XXXVII. p. 63. 

" The discontent and poverty of the people of Ireland are entirely oiving to the 
vicious political institutions of the country, and the misgovernment and oppression 
to which they have been subjected.'' — Idem, 109. 

" // is only by exposing national evils, that the attention of those who have it in 
their power to apply a remedy, can be excited." — Wakefield, II. 780. 

I PROCEED to present a slight sketch of the wretchedness entailed 
on the Irish by the preceding system, from tlie commencement of the 
last century, when the depredations perpetrated by warfaie and sham 
plots liad ceased, and the great mass of the landed property of the na- 
tion had been transferred from the original proprietors, most of whom 
had been reduced to abject penury. This system, steadily pursued, has 
blasted the manifold blessings bestowed by heaven on that ill-fated 
land. 

That no industry, talent, or energy, could withstand the deleterious 
effects of such a barbarous and unrelenting persecution as was carried 
on against the national industry of Ireland, must be obvious on the 
slightest investigation. And that the necessary consequence of such a 
system, wherever it prevails, must be to deprive myriads of the people 
of profitable employment — diminish the demajjil for labour — lower its 
price — and thus spread desolation and distress around, is as clear as the 
noon-day sun. Such have been its pernicious effects in Ireland. All 
travellers agree, that such an intensity of misery prevails among a large 
portion of the Irish peasantry, in their food, their clothing, and their 
habitations, as is hardly credible. 

The proofs of these assertions shall be drawn from two works of 
high reputation, written at two dilferent periods — " Young's Tour in 
Ireland," published in 1776 — and "Mason's Statistical Account, or 
Parochial Survey of Ireland," in 1816. 

These works coincide in their statements, and draw such a hideous 
picture of the sufferings of the Irish, springing chiefly from the detesta- 
ble system of which I have sketched the outlines in the preceding 
chapter, as must reflect eternal disgrace on the monopolizing spirit 
which suggested it — on the various English administrations by which 
it was matured — and, more than all, on the wretched Irish parliament, 
who basely purchased the right to enslave and depredate on their Ro- 



CHAPTER XXXrX. 419 

man Catholic fellow subjects, by the odious and execrable sacrifice of 
the dearest interests of tlieir native country.* 

" The common Irish are in general clothed so very indifferently, that it impresses 
every stranger with a strong idea of universal poverty." — Young, II. part ii. 35. 

" The cottages of the Irish, which are all called cabins, are the most ?niserable 
looking hovels that can ivell be conceived : they generally consist of only one 
room ; mud kneaded with straw is the common material of the walls ; these are 
rarely above seven feet high, and not always above five or six; they are about two 
feet thick, and have only a door, which lets in light instead of a window, and should 
let the smoke out instead of a chimney." — Ibid. 

They are " scantily supplied with potatoes ; clothed with rags ; famished with 
cold, in their comfortless habitations : nor ca7i they, ihovgh sober, frugal and 
laborious, -which, from my o-wn knowledge, I assert, provide against infrmity and 
old age, xvith any other resource than begging or dependence ; than the precarious 
relief of charity ; extremities to which many are constantly reduced." — Wake- 
field, II. 774. 

" The population of the country is much increased of late years ; and it is a sad 
reflection, that their miseries are multiplied in the same proportion. The wealth of 
other states is appreciated by the number of their children, and with the Irish 
peasant, they cojistitute his misfortune and poverty. How few of them enjoy the 
luxury of a little milk." — Idem, 775. 

" Throughout the King's county, the cottages of the peasants are miserably 
poor and wretched, in few instances weather proof." — Ibid. 

" The cabins, or rattier hovels, of the cotter tenants, are in ge^ieral wretclied, 
beyond description, often not sufficiently covered to keep out the rain : they are all 
built with mud." — Idem, 779. 

" The state of the poor cannot be worse than it is in many parts of Meath and 
Kildare.— /Jem, 780. 

" The clothing of the people, if rags,wtiich scarcely cover tlieir nalcedness, can 
be so called, consists of wollen cloth or frieze, manufactured at home, and almost 
every other article of their dress is made by themselves." — Idem, 73 1 . 

— "►>®®ft«»« — 

* This wretched body was signalized throughout its career, with few exceptions, 
by a destitution*f honour and honesty, of which the " ferocious code to prevent 
the growth of Popery," a code which legalized almost every species of crime, would 
be sufficient proof. I now adduce another striking case. In the year 1735, they 
passed a vote, by which they declared every man a traitor to his country, who should 
assist in a prosecution for tithes of agistment, that is, for the tithes of pasture lands : 
and thus, according to the Edinburgh Review, threw the clergy of the established 
church " from the opulent grazier, and the Protestant proprietor, upon the Cotholic 
peasantry — for the peasantry are almost universally Catholics — for support." — 
Edinburgh Review, XXXVI. 75. 



APPENBIX. 



By employing a smaller type in the quotations than in the former 
edition, the appearance of the work is not only greatly improved, but 
the matter is condensed into a smaller compass ; the whole contents of 
the former edition (except three or four pages of irrelevant matter) 
being compressed into 420 pages, instead of 520, in the second edition. 
This affords me an opportunity, of which I gladly avail myself, to 
enhance the value of the work by the annexation, in the shape of an 
appendix, of " A Vindication of the Small Farmers, the Peasantry, and 
the Labourers of Ireland," together with a portion of the quotations 
collected for the former editions, but which were omitted for want of 
raora. The quotations thus omitted were in number 969, which, 
added to those in the former edition [1143], make in the whole 2108, 
for all of which I have paid three amanuenses liberally. Those who have 
undertaken to substantiate disputed points, will know how to appre- 
ciate the pains, the application, and the tedious hours this irksome 
operation required. Indeed, personal experience is not necessary to 
enable any rational man to form a tolerably correct idea of the labour 
requisite for such an arduous undertaking. Nothing could have in- 
duced or enabled me to go through those painful researches in the 
seventy Avorks from which my materials were gleaned, (some of them 
containing numerous volumes, e. g., Rush worth. Clarendon, Carte, 
and HoUinshead, are in twenty volumes, folio,) but the deep interest I 
took in the honour of my country — a feeling which entered into my 
earliest impressions — has continued unabated through my life — and 
will be among the last relinquished at the hour of my death. 

Let me observe, that of the numerous quotations in this work, I have 
scarcely copied half a dozen. The labour would have been too severe. 
It may not be improper to state to the reader the process I adopted. 

53 



422 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE. 

I skimmed over the books with a rapid eye, and when I found a pas- 
sage suited to my purpose, enclosed it witliin parentheses — marked it 
in the margin — and then employed my hired amanuenses to transcribe it. 
Having a great facility for such researches, I made a rapid progress. 
When my materials were all collected, I arranged them to the best 
advantage. But I nuist confess that the work is very different from 
the sliield of Ajax, of which the workmanship greatly exceeded the 
material, whereas my materials are far better than the arrangement ef 
them. In this portion of the art of authorship I have been always 
deficient. However, the deficiency may probably be regarded as par- 
donable, when it is considered, that the work lays claim to no further 
title than that of a mere repository of materials for some future Livy, 
Tacitus, or Gibbon, to form at length a correct history of the most 
calumniated country in the world. 

In the preface there is an error, which I deem it proper to state. I 
have there asserted that all my materials were derived from English 
and Protestant authorities. This requires some qualification. The 
great mass of them, and indeed all that are very important, are of 
this description. But there are some exceptions, in which I re- 
sorted to Irish and Roman Catholic authorities, as Curry's Review, and 
the Statement of the Penal Laws against the Roman Catliolics of Ire- 
land. 

Philadelphia, May 26, 1 837. 



VINDICATION 

OF 

THE SMAL.L FARMERS, 

THE PEASANTRY, 

THS LABOURESRS 

OP 

IRELAND 

FROM THE 

INJURIOUS OPINIONS TOO GENERALLY ENTERTAINED OP THEM, 

PROVING 

From the Report of the late Com?mssionera of Investigation, 
THAT THEY WILL BEAR ADVANTAGEOUS COMPARISON 

WITH SIMILAR CLASSES 

IN ANT PART OF CHRISTENDOM. 
—••>»© ® ©«<••— 

" When we see a suffering people, with depressed minds and indolent habits, toe 
do not [as tve oxight to do'] ascribe their poverty to the men -who govern them. But 
no one who sees a mangy flock of sheep, ever doubts that it is the fault of the far- 
mer to whom it belongs." — Maurice and Bergheita. 

" Go to Ireland, in order to perceive, with horror, the consequences of an unlearned 
barbarous legislation." — Raumer^s England in 1835. 

" Ireland is the most deplorable instance in modern history, that a great and noble 
people may, for centuries together, be involved in the same injustice and infatuation 
— and all the highly-praised forms of the constitution he paralyzed by the force of 
passion and prejudice. Kings, Lords, and Commons, have, alternately or simulta« 
neously, wronged Ireland. How should order, humanity, mildnetB, and obedience to 
the laws, proceed from such education?" — Ibid. 



424 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

As many of our citizens entertain an opinion that Mr. O'Connell is supported 
wholly by a reckless faction, of little substantial weight, and with little to lose, and 
much lo gain, by commotion, it cannot be improper to state, that in his efforts to 
obtain for Ireland a corporate reform, similar to that attained by England and Scot- 
land, he is upheld by a large proportion of the most respectable of the nobility and 
gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. 

The following letters express the feelings of two noblemen on this subject. 
Others were addressed to Mr. O'Connell, particularly by the Jvlarquis of Hertford, 
Lord Ebrington, and (it is said) the Uuke of Bedford, but v/e have not procured 
copies : 

" The Earl of Shrewsbury addressed the following letter to Mr, Hume, enclosing 
a subscription of 50/. ' 

"June 26, 1836, 
" Sir, — It is with much pleasure that I reply to your circular of the 22d inst. by 
forwarding a subscription, very inadequate to my wishes, but which I trust will be 
considered as a mark of respect and gratitude for the man from -whose extraordinary 
talents, energies, and perseverance, lue have received such signal advantages, 
having been, ivithout any doubt, the principal means in the hands of Providence 
for rescuing us from the state of social and political degradatioji to which ive have 
so long been reduced. I have the honour to be. Sir, 

" Your most obedient servant, 
<' Shrewsbuut, WATEHFonn axd Wexfohd. 
" To Joseph Hume, Esq., M. P." 



FROM LORD RADNOR. 

" Association Corn Exchange, Dublin. 

" Sir, — I have just read in the morning Chronicle of this Aivy, your address to the 
people of Ireland. It was what I fully expected, and I rejoice that I have not been 
disappointed. Selieving that some such ineasttre as that which you propose, can 
alone save Ireland from confusion, and possibly civil war, I enclose you a small 
contribution to the "rent of Ireland," in aid of your proposed " General Association." 
Permit me to add, that if you accomplish your object, as I hope and believe you will, 
you will, in my opinion, add to j'our claims to the admiration of your countrymen, 
and of the lovers of freedom, a claim to the eternal gratitude of all who love 
peace, and dread above all things, a civil and, religious war. You are, of course, 
welcome to make what use you please of this letter ; but I confess I am anxious that, 
in Ireland, at least, it should be publicly known, that Englishmen (I believe I may 
safely say the great majority of the people of England,) sympathize with the Irish 
in their wrongs and sufferings, and are desirous to assist them in every legal and 
peaceable mode of obtaining redress. 

" I am, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant, 
"Daniel O'Connell, Esq., M. P. Radnor." 



DEDICATION. 



To the Honourable Daniel O'Connell, M. P. 

Dear Sir, 

There is a peculiar propriety in dedicating this little work to you, as, 
among the various benefits your laudable, patriotic, and indefatigable 
efforts have secured to your country, you have been the principal means 
of procuring those investigations into the situation of the poorer classes 
in Ireland, which furnish its materials. 

Considered in point of size, the Vindication is too insignificant to 
be honoured with a dedication. But, for whatever are its deficiencies 
in that respect, the importance of its object will amply compensate. 
That object is nothing less than the redeeming from obloquy the mass 
of a noble nation, which, notwithstanding, the multifarious degrading 
circumstances, religious and political, under which it has so long 
laboured, has produced, at least, its full quota of those illustrious men 
on whom the British nation prides itself — in the cabinet, in the field, 
and in the forum — in arts, in arms, in science, and in literature. This 
is an object worthy of a Livy, a Tacitus, or a Junius — and it is to be 
regretted that it has not fallen to the lot of an abler pen than mine. 

That the inappreciable services you have rendered your country 
entitle you to the lasting gratitude of every Irishman, every descendant 
of Irishmen, is one of those truths which nothing but malice or igno- 
rance will doubt or deny. 

I remain. Sir, 

Yours, very respectfully, 

M. CAREY. 

Philadelphia, Sept. 8, 1836. 



VINDICATION, &c. 



The character of the small farmers, the peasantry, and the labourers 
of Ireland, has, for a long time, been under par with a large portion of 
mankind. They have been portrayed as idle, lazy, disorderly, san- 
guinary, and tainted with no small portion of the vices of the savage, 
with few of the redeeming qualities of the civilized state. This is a 
hideous and revolting picture, which, though a miserable caricature, 
has been so often and so perseveringly ui-ged on the public eye, almost 
without contradiction, that it is not wonderful it has been so generally 
credited. It may be worth while to inquire the source whence it has 
flowed. I will try to solve the difficulty, and to make it appear, that 
the tout ensemble has arisen from that process of generalization, to 
which mankind arc but too prone, by which the vices, follies, and 
crimes of individuals are accumulated together, and charged to the 
account of the body to which the offenders belong. 

This is a fiery ordeal, which no class, of either sex, from the tenants 
of the gorgeous palace to those of the wretched roofless hut, can stand 
unscorched. I might make numerous applications in our days, and 
in our own city and country, but the task would be invidious, and I 
forbear. 

Careless, cursory, and indolent travellers have rode post haste through 
the country, and finding almost every where hundreds of able-bodied 
men listless and unemployed, and appearing almost too indolent to 
move, they assumed, without taking the trouble of making any inqui- 
ries into the causes of this phenomenon, that their being unemployed, 
arose from their inherent idleness and laziness, which prevented them 
from seeking, or, if it ofllgred, from accepting employment. Finding 
a large proportion of the people in rags, they philosophically conclu- 
ded, that it arose from their recklessness about the decencies of life. 
Beset by hosts of beggars, they with equal justice and propriety, con- 
sidered that these miserable creatures had adopted this vagrant course 
of life from a preference of its freedom from restraint, and a distaste 
for honest industry. When they understood that riots and outrages 
occasionally took place, they concluded that they arose from an inherent 
disposition to disorder, which nothing but martial law could control. 
Such is the course pursued by a large portion of the travellers in 
Ireland. 

Now, a very moderate portion of inquiry would have produced a 
conviction that there is not to be found a more laborious and industri- 
ous people than the Irish — and that they would not be idle if they could 
earn eight-pence a-day half the year, and have their board in return for 
their labour for the remaining half. Are there any people in America 
more industrious than the Irish ? 

Had they made inquiry respecting the ragged clothes, they would 
have found that they arose from the utter inability to replace them by 
new ; so that they were obliged to wear the old as long as they could 



APPENDIX. 427 

be tacked together. Similar inquiries on the subject of the beggars, 
woukl have proved, in ahnost every case, that they had taken up that 
trade from their liaving no alternative but beggary or starvation ; and 
they would have found, had they made the necessary inquiries, that so 
far as regards those outrages which are so often blazoned forth and 
magnified in the newspapers, (and of which parallels may be some- 
times found in nations which cannot plead any similar apology,) tliey 
are, in genera], the result of sectarian jealousies enkindled and fostered 
in too many cases by those whose special duty it is to preach "peace 
and good will on eartli;" in some cases by the horrible oppression and 
rapacity of tithe proctors ; and lastly, though not the least, by the cold- 
blooded and heartless ejection of tenants by rigorous agents, and an 
unfeeling squirearchy. And at all events, they would have found that 
the persons engaged in those riots bore but a small proportion to the 
mass who are stigmatized with the cb.arge. 

Far, very far be it from me to justify such proceedings, come from 
what source they may. But if, as we are told, " oppression makes a 
wise man mad," let each individual look into his own breast, and con- 
sider calmly what would be his feelings if he had all his moveables 
seized for tithes, or himself and his family, a wife and some five or six 
children thrust out on the road, destitute of house, home, or food to 
allay the cravings of hunger of his starving little ones. When he has 
duly considered these things, let him pass sentence on men of strong 
feelings and little cultivation, who, in a moment of desperation, obey 
the impulses and promptings of revenge. 

At length, recent investigations, laudably instituted by the present 
administration of Great Britain, to ascertain the real state of the tliree 
classes whose vindication I have undertaken, have shed a glare of light 
on this important, but grossly-misunderstood subject ; and fully estab- 
lished the gratifying fact, that the classes in question may enter advan- 
tageously into comparison with similar classes in almost any quarter 
of the globe. 

The measure which has produced such a salutary result as the deve- 
lopment of the real character of the great mass of a nation, which has 
suffered more from misgovernment, for nearly seven centuries, than, 
probably, any other portion of the terraqueous globe, was the appoint- 
ment on the 25th of September, 1834, of a Board of Commissioners, 
" to inquire into the condition of the poorer classes in Ireland, and the 
various institutions at present established by law for their relief; and to 
propose in writing, and submit to the government such further remedial 
measures, if any, as may appear to be requisite to meliorate the con- 
dition of the Irish poor, or any portion of them." Full powers were 
given to call before them all persons who might be necessary, to arrive 
at the truth ; to administer oaths to the parties, should they be requi- 
site ; and to send for such records and papers, as they might judge 
proper. In one word, their powers were co-extensive with the whole 
kingdom, and embraced all the complicated details of the intricate 
subject referred to them. 

V This Board consisted of nine persons, the Protestaut Archbishop of 
Dublin ; D. Murray, D. D., Roman Catholic Archbishop, Charles 
Vignoles, Richard More O'Ferrall, James Carlile, Fenton Hart, John 
Corrie, James Naper, and W. B. Wrightson. They classed the sub- 
jects of their investigation under six heads—- 



428 VINDICIJG HIBERNIC^. 

1. An inquiry into the extent of destitution, and the modes in which 
relief is administered to the destitute. 

2. The causes of destitution. 

3. The rates of agricultural wages, the habits of farm labourers, 
the nature and extent of employment in agriculture. 

4. Similar inquiries respecting manufacturing labour, trade, and 
commerce. 

5. To discover whether there might be, within the reach of the 
legislature, any measure which might tend to increase the demand for 
labour. 

6. To inquire into the state of the mines and fisheries. 

And here let me observe, en passant, that the Melbourne is the only 
British administration, which, from the fatal hour of the blighting and 
blasting invasion of Ireland by Henry II. to the present day, a period 
of nearly seven hundred years, has ever showed the least inclination, 
I will not say to remove any of the hideous evils and grievances under 
which Ireland has groaned, (partly from the proconsular government 
that prevailed there for above six hundred years, and partly from the 
wanton and cruel sacrifice of her dearest interests whenever they came 
in competition with even the minor interests of Great Britain,)* but 
even to ascertain the real state of the country, and whether any of its 
grievances could be removed without interfering with the interests of 
Great Britain, an attention to which, coute qui coutc, has been the 
paramount object of every British administration. Lord Melbourne 
and his coadjutors are entitled for this benevolent measure to the lasting 
gratitude of every Irishman at home or abroad, who possesses any 
portion of national feeling. 

The Commissioners, finding it would be impossible for them, within 
any reasonable time, to proceed through the whole Island, and make 
personal inquiries, on such a variety of complicated subjects, and 

* Page 416 contains a few specimens, " ex pede Herculem^^ of the cruel, unjust, 
and oppressive system pursued by the British Parliament towards Ireland, in the 
duties imposed on importation from one country to the other. This vile system it 
was, that tore up Irish industry by the roots — blasted and withered the countless 
blessings bestowed on the island by the bounty of heaven — devoted the people to 
idleness, poverty, and beggary, — and spread desolation over the land. This system 
prevailed for above a century. It is now defunct. 

The following strong denunciations of the selfish and iniquitous policy pursued 
by the British Parliament, whereby were offered up the industry and prosperity of 
Ireland, as a sacrifice to the interest of England, are from the high authorities of 
William Pitt and T. Newenham — authorities beyond controversy. 

" The object of that species of policy which the British government had exercised 
towards Ireland, had been to debar her fvoin the enjoyment and use of her own 
resources, and to make her completely subservient to the interests and opulence of 
Britainy — Speech of Mr. Pitt in the debate on the commercial propositions, 1785. 

" Whenever any manufacture or bra?ich of industry in England, was thought 
to require encouragement, the Irish parliament readily imposed duties on similar 
ones from other countries, admitting those from Britain duty free. Whenever 
the exigencies of the Irish government required the imposition of duties on mer- 
chandize imported, the British -were uniformly exempted. And whenever an infant 
manufacture in Ireland seemed likely to rival a similar one in Britain, the same 
practice was pursued ; thus opening a field for the usual efficacy of superior Bri- 
tish capitals in overpoivering the unaided industry of Ireland,'''' — Newenham's 
View of the natural, political and commercial circumtsances oj Ireland, p. 118. 



APPENDIX. 429 

being unwilling to depend upon written communications, whicli would 
probably be very contradictory, and partake largely of the sectarian 
principles of the writers, adopted a prudent plan by which they were 
certain of obtaining as correct inlbrniation as the nature of the case 
would admit. They appointed a deputy Board for almost every county 
in the Island, composed each of two members, one an Englishman, 
and the other an Irishman. These subordinate boards being duly 
authorized to cite before them such persons as they might judge proper, 
accordingly summoned individuals of every class, from the peer to the 
laborer, and even in some cases, common beggars. In almost every 
case among the persons cited, were the pastors of the dilferent reli- 
gious denominations. 

The parent Board required, as an indispensable condition, that the 
examinations should be held in the presence of the Assistant Commis- 
sioners, and rejected some for want of that qualification. 

Human wisdom could hardly devise a better mode of accomplishing 
the statesmanlike and benevolent object in view, — that is, the develop- 
ment of the sufferings and misery of a numerous portion of the 
most wretched and destitute of the human family, — a portion, which, 
as I hope will appear in the sequel, may be justly regarded as form- 
ing a highly interesting and estimable part of that family — a portion 
which, in spite of the adverse, the appalling and the oppressive cir- 
cumstances which have attended the national career for centuries, 
displays as large a share of the virtues which adorn human nature, as 
the same classes in any other nation under the canopy of heaven, 
and an infinitely larger share than many nations enjoying advantages 
from which the Irish have been sedulously and undeviatingly de- 
barred. 

These positions, running in such direct hostility with deeprooted 
and inveterate prejudices, too generally prevalent, will excite the 
wild astonishment of some, and the blind incredulity of others. But 
if strong and impregnable facts be allowed their due weight, I trust 
that the astonishment of the one class, and the incredulity of the other, 
will be dispelled ; and that the impartial and enlightened of both par- 
ties will rejoice at being emancipated from the yoke of discreditable 
prejudices, calculated to make them regard with jealousy, and dislike, 
and something approaching to abhorrence, large bodies of their fellow- 
beings, worthy of esteem for their estimable qualities, and sympathy 
for their cruel, long-continued, and unmerited sufferings. 

I proceed to state the points which I hope to prove, — 

1. That the patience, forbearance, and resignation with which the 
three classes contemplated in this vindication, submit to the most op- 
pressive privations, not unfretjuently of the common necessaries of life ; 
to misery, distress, and wretchedness, not exceeded in any part of the 
globe ; — misery, distress, and wretchedness, which might afford some 
palliation of outrage on the persons and property of those to whom 
those evils are ascribed — this patience and forbearance, I say, justly 
entitle them to the admiration of the friends of order in every quarter 
of the globe. 

2. That their kindness, and attention, and relief, to and of their pa- 
rents, and relations, and neighbours, are rarely equalled, and can hardly 
be exceeded. 

3. That their effective charity, as far as their means go, towards 

54 



430 VINDICIJ3 HIBERNICiE. 

those poorer than themselves, is carried to an extent without example, 
and commands our warmest approbation. 

4. That the chastity of females of those three classes, is more highly 
prized, its violation less frequent, and, when it does occur, is attended 
with moie disgrace than among similar classes in any other country in 
Christendom. 

5. That the desertion of wives by their husbands, so very common 
in those classes in England, is a rare occurrence in Ireland. 

6. That the outrages which occasionally take place in Ireland, are 
generally the result of grievous oppression, chiefly of tythe proctors, 
by whom the bed on which sick and dying persons are lying; the pot 
wherein the potatoes are boiling ; in a word, every thing moveable has 
been swept away for tithes to support the pastors of a religion to which 
they are averse, a score of whose congregations do not equal a single 
congregation of that religion from whose professors their support is 
thus cruelly extorted. Serious outrages sometimes take place when 
unfeeling landlords at once eject twenty, thirty, or forty, of their ten- 
ants Avith their families, Avho are turned out on the high road without 
any other shelter than '■'■the blue vault of heaven'''' — and when this 
havoc of human happiness, is perpetrated for the accomplishment of 
some sinister purpose, and generally the attainment of additional polit- 
ical influence. 

7. That sheer distress is the general cause of mendicancy. 

8. That the absentees, who drain the country of its wealth, rarely 
contribute to the relief of the poor. 

In enumerating the estimable qualities of these people, it would be 
manitest injustice to pass over the steady adherence to the religion of 
their ancestors, under a most cruel persecution of nearly three hundred 
years, a persecution which oflered violence to all the best feelings of 
human nature. This trait in their character must command the warm 
admiration of tlie liberal-minded even of those who disapprove their 
religion. 

The extracts, in proof of these positions are all taken from the Re- 
port of the Board of Commissioners above referred to. They will, I 
trust, fully corroborate them. 

Some of my readers will probably regard the quotations as, in some 
cases, too copious. I had some doubts on the subject myself; but on 
nioi'e mature reflection, I determined " to make assurance doubly sure," 
so as to put an end to doubt and uncertainty on the subject. ■* 

Attempts have been made to dissuade me from dedicating this trifle 
to Mr. O'Connell, by persons offended at his tirade against this coun- 
try, on the subject of slavery. This, I freely admit, was an injudicious 
and ill-timed affair, in which he had no concern, and which was in no 
way connected with the subject in debate. It probable arose from a 
momentary impulse, without reflection. The Irish are the creatures 
of impulse. But there ar-e spots on the sun — and no man is wholly 
exempt from error. The error in this instance is a venial one ; but 
had it been ten fold greater, the eminent services he has rendered to 
society, would abundantly atone for it. 

To conclude. Let it not be supposed that I ofier the statements con- 
tained in the subjoined extracts as applying over the whole island 
without exception. Far from it. There are exceptions. 'J'here are 
different shades of character in different parts of the island, and in 



APPENDIX. 431 

some respects there is as much difference between the manners of the 
different provinces as between Englishmen and Irishmen. But a can- 
did examination of the subject will force conviction on every liberal 
mind, that the three classes in question, (whose case alone occupies 
attention in this pamphlet,) are distinguished in an eminent degree, by 
the great leading characteristics of support of parents and relations, 
when these are unable to support themselves — of kindness and atten- 
tion to neighbours — of patient suffering of intense distress — of general 
hospitality — and of charity, even among the poor and indigent them- 
selves, knowing no bounds but the slenderness of the means of the 
donors. And though there are exceptions, as there must be in all ob- 
servations respecting that anomalous animal, man — I trust the charac- 
ter is, probably, drawn with as much fidelity as any national character 
whatever, and that it stands on far higher and more estimable ground 
than has been supposed even by many of its warmest advocates. This, 
when I began, I regarded as " a consummation devoutly to be wished." 
Whether I have attained my object, must be left to the decision of an 
impartial public. But I cannot allow myself to doubt that if I have 
not established all the points I undertook to prove — 1 have established 
the most important. This sufficiently rewards my labours. 
September 8, 1836. 



PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



THE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 

I. The patience,forbeorance, and resignation of the three classes above 
stated, under theniost grievous privations, entitle them to the admi- 
ration of the friends of order every where. 

County J\Iayo. — "The Rev. Mr. O'Brien knew two families of labourers, this 
summer, to remain in bed all day, an they said, to stifie their Ininger. They told 
him that several of their neighbours did the same." p. 328. 

County Tipperary. — " There are a vast number of reputable people in great want, 
who are ashamed to beg. Some live on afeiv dry potatoes for tiventy-four Jiours. 
Either their cases are represented, or they apply personally." p. 391. 

County AJayo. — " Numberless instances were known of families being unable to 
procure straw, cutting rushes for beds, and still more, that for ivant of bed clothes, 
lie in the clol/ies they wear by day. Independent of rain from the roof, they 
cannot but be damp from their situation, as the most valueless, that is, swampy piece 
of land, is always selected to build them on, for fear of wasting any that might be 
profitable." p. 169. 

" The Rev. Mr. Hughes mentions a case in which he was called on, about three 
months ago, to administer the rites of religion. The family had been attacked by the 
fever; he found the father, and four out of the five children, sick, and all togetlier ori, 
one bed of moist rotten straw ; their only coveriiig a single fold of what is called a 
poverty blanket, (half wool, half tow.") Ibid. 

County Carlow. — "Doctor Payne knew several cases where small farmers could 
not buy the requisites in sickness, neither milk, whey, gruel, or any thing but dry 
potatoes ; and, in one of these cases, the life of tlie patient was lost by these priva- 
tions." p. 173. 



432 VINDTCI^ HIBERNIC^. 

City of Cork. — "The Assistant Commissioners found, in a small room, coiled up 
in corners, a mother and daughter ; a little straw under, and a single covering over 
each of them. A young woman, attending them, said she had just recovered from 
fever. She showed a few miserable black wet potatoes in a saucepan, and said they 
had nothing else to eat." p. 184. 

County Kerry. — " A labourer, in sickness, is left entirely to his own resources : or, 
in the absence of these, he is thrown on the charge of his neighbours ; whatever be 
his circumstances, his wife and children do not go out to beg, they stay at home to 
attend him," p. 188. 

Coimty Gahvay. — " Many men, during last July, had to live on one scanty meal 
in the twenty-four honr'i." p. 194. 

" In the scarce time they often work for 6f/. per day, and many spend another day 
looking for their hire. When potatoes are Ad. a stone, that will go a short way in 
supporting a family." Ibid. 

" Many were obliged to pawn their clothes in the pawn office last July, and were 
not able to go to mass for want of them." Ibid. 

" The general fuod 'f llie peasant is dry potatoes ; he sometimes may have a her- 
ring or a drop of milk ; it is a melancholy truth that they may rear the pig, but they 
cannot eat the bacon." p. 197. 

County of Longford. — "Those who have a plot of early potatoes, dig tuex be- 
fore THEY ARE iiAi-F GROWN. They often have them dug out when they ought to 
be beginning. Eating these unripe potatoes causes sickness ; many men arc put to 
their graves by this bad food. They are pounded with salt and vegetables, to give 
them a substantial body, otherwise they could not be eaten, they are so wet and 
tasteless; they are soft as mushrooms." p. 199. 

County Mayo. — " All the witnesses agree that a man can scarcely procure thirty 
days' labour through the entire year, that no man can support himself without land, 
and that any man holding less than two acres at a moderate rent, must, at one time or 
other of the year, apply for support to the charity of his neighbours." p. 207. 

" I knew a man, having a cabin four miles distant, come in and work, last spring, 
in this little town, /or 2fZ. a day and his food.. He was a good labourer, and when I 
reproached his employer for taking his labour at so low a price, he boasted that he 
could get another to work for \^d., and I believe he could." Ibid. 

Mr. Gibbons says, " I knew holders, paying 3/., 4/., and 5/. rent, to be so destitute 
of clothes, as to be obliged, when going to market, to borrow a coat from one man, 
a trousers from another, and a waistcoat. The person that looks decent in the mar- 
ket to-day, you would take for a beggar, if you met him at home in his own rags, 
to-morrow." p. 208. 

Gallagher says, " He knew a family, this last summer, (1834,) to have, during 
three days, but one substantial meal of potatoes." He adds, " They kept life in them 
by picking shell-fish on the strand." p. 209. 

"Their last resource is cither to beg, or io dig f/ieir potatoes before they are half 
ripe ; sometimes they get the best stalks on the ridge, and root out the young pota- 
toes with their fingers, then turn back the mould, that they may injure the growth 
as little as possible." p. 210. 

County Carluw. — " The petty robberies of potatoes, which are frequently com- 
mitted, arise altogether from destitution, not from immoral feeling." p. 217. 

" There is never more than one-third of the labourers in constant employment, 
and, in the unemployed season, there are at least five hundred out of work, many of 
whom do not get two days' work in the month." p. 218. 

" Half the petty thefts are from distress. Many," says Mr. Butler, " have been 
brought before me, as a magistrate, under such circumstances. It is to us all a mat- 
ter of wonder how they bear their situation with half the patience that they 
do." p. 219. 

County Kildare. — " It is a matter of frequent occurrence to find able bodied per- 
sons committing trifling offences for the purpose of being sent to jail, and of getting 
food and shelter there." p. 221. 

" There are at least two hundred families in this town, without straw to lie on, 
and without any potatoe ground ; and, as they get little employment, it is a miracle 
how they live." p. 263. 

County of Tipperary. — " The poor have been known to live on prassagh, (a yel- 
low weed,) or on unripe cabbages or potatoes. Even in ordinary seasons, no s^mall 



APPENDIX. 433 

number of labouring men are compelled to allow their wives and children to have 
recourse to beggary." p. 2C5. 

Cotmfi; Jlntrim, — " Dr. Forsyth observing a poor man's cabin blocked up on Sun- 
day, he was induced to make inquiry, and found that he had not risen from his bed 
during the day, having nothing to eat." p. 269. 

" The Kcv. Mr. Brenuan states, 'it would make your blood run cold to hear the 
tales of woe and misery that are told me in my confessional ; the hardships of the 
poor are beyond endurance.' " p. 224. 

County Roscommon. — " According to the evidence given by the Rev. Mr. M'Cann, 
Capt. Graham, and Mr. Rooney, there is not employment for one-fourth part of the 
labourers belonging to the parish between September and March, and again between 
the 1st of June and middle of August." p. 226. 

These gentlemen further testify, " that when the labourers are out of potatoes, and 
cannot get credit, (which they cannot without giving security, and paying most 
usurious interest,) they go through the fields and gather the wild weeds. They 
boil them with salt, and live on them without even a potatoe to eat with them." Ibid. 
Coxinty JVestmealh. — "Instances have been known of persons having committed 
trifling offences, for the purpose of being sent to prison, in order that they may ob- 
tain food and shelter." p. 231. 

County of Clare. — "At all times, of the year, a large body of able bodied men are 
out of work, but in summer there is the greatest scarcity of employment. The poor 
are then reduced to the greatest extremity, and are obliged to put up with just as 
much food as will keep life and soul together. JUany is the man who thinks himself 
■well off at Ihat time loith one meal a day." p. 234. 

" The following case gives an idea of the distress to which these poor women are 
reduced. When the cholera hospital was established, notwithstanding the dread 
which was entertained of the disease, three poor widows feigned sickness in order to 
gain admittance." p. 120. 

County of Londonderry. — " They, (the widows,) are frequently reduced, with 
their children, to six pounds of potatoes a day. Spinning is the only employment 
to which they can have recourse." p. 1 30. 

" The habits are as follows — two or three families occupy one room. We have 
found four families in a room, in one corner a ■woma7i,ivho had just been delivered 
lying on a little straw ; no other straw in the room." p. 257. 

County of Cork. — Crowly states, " I have been obliged to do with one meal during 
summer, when I was out of work ; not for a whole week together, but for two, and 
sometimes for three days at a time." p. 258. 

County Wexford. — " Widows, with young children, are generally in a more 
wretched state than the rest of the community, frequently living on but one meal a 
day." p. 115. 

County Sligo. — "No small proportion of our commonest, and, eventually, the most 
fatal diseases, are caused by the insufficient nutriment of invalids." p. 172. 

" The huts that labouring people live in, are often such that they have scarcely a 
place to lie in, on account of the rain." p. 234. 

" In point of clothing, the state of a great portion of the labouring class is very 
wretched. The clothes, or rather rags, of many labouring men, are utterly insuffi- 
cient to protect them from the cold." p. 253. 

" Many have no blankets, but make use of the clothes they wear during the day 
for night covering." p. 254. 

Comity Jlntrim. — " Many cases of death arise from starvation." p. 399. ^ 

II. Filial Affection — Support of Relations — Remittance from the 
United States and the British Colonies, for the relief of parents 
and kindred in destitute circumstances. 

County of Sligo.—^' The support of tlie destitute by tlieir relations is co7isidered 
a sacred duty, which is rarely neglected. The children do not feel aggrieved by the 
burden. But the daughter-in-law sometimes falls out with the old people, who, 
rather than keep the man and wife in disagreement, will go out and beg." p. 141. 

" This obligation extends to brothers and sisters, and ttie claims of relatives, much 
fartlier removed, are frequently allowed. Money is frequently sent home from 
America, to their friends, by young men who have emigrated there." Ibid. 



434 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC^. 

Vo2mty of Carlow. — " In this parish, [St. Mullins,] there are, out of a population 
of 0,452, 25 destitute persons who are infirm through age. Ail these poor people 
live with their relations, and none are supported by the gentry, or by collections made 
at places of worship, or by begging." p. 142. 

Cojnity of Kildure. — "■ Parents feel tliey have a right to support from their chil- 
tlren. Aged relations, who have lived in the family, feel a right to support, as do 
brothers and sisters, born infirm, or disabled by accident. It frequently happens that 
the support of aged relatives presses heavily, as they require better food, and a person 
to attend them. Still the children never complain, as they consider it a duty." p. 144, 

Covnty ijf Longfurd. — "In every third family there is one person infirm from 
age. Thus, of 600 families of the labouring class, and 500 of the farming class, 
there will be 200 of the former, and 165 of the latter, infirm from age. Of these, the 
farming class are, almost without exception, supported by tlieirfcuniUes." p. 145. » 

County JMayo. — " Mr. Nally says, I know numbers of persons, supporting their 
parents, who can afford themselves no better food than potatoes and salt, herrings 
sometimes, but oftener potatoes and nothing. And these are small farmers, having 
cows, whose families scarcely know what the taste of milk is. If they do not sell it, 
they have no means of making up the rent." p. 138. 

County Sligo. — "There is no relief provided for the poor of the working classes, 
in a time of sickness, except medicine. They are most willing to attend each other 
in all contagious disorders, particularly fevers." p. 171. 

County Donegal. — "The poorer classes invariably evince the greatest kindness to 
all their sick. There is no feeling more general than anxiety to attend the sick. 
The only difficulty, frequently, is to keep their relatives and friends away from per- 
sons afflicted with violent contagious disorders. In fact, no words can possibly ex- 
press the feelings of affection manifested by the poorer classes, under such emergencies, 
towards one another." p. 191. 

County of Londonderry. — "No sick family is ever left without attendance by 
their neighbours. But as the children are not removed, frequently, contagious disor- 
ders spread through the whole family." p. 192. 

County Kildare. — "The young labourers assist by the hour, such as planting 
potatoes for widows, and carrying home fuel for those who have no children." p. 144. 
County lioscomvion. — " Gaffney states, " I know a man supporting a father and 
mother, both 80 years of age." p. 139. 

As to remittances from the colonies, Coulon states, " that he knew a girl who 
sent, in two years, from America, a sufficient sum to take out her whole family." 
Ibid. 

" The support of destitute persons usually devolves, as a matter of duty, upon the 
nearest relatives, at least as far as children, brothers, and sisters. Should they re- 
fuse to give them aid, they are looked upon, by their own equals viilh the greatest 
abhorrence." p. 141. 

" Mr. C. stated, that he had opportunities of knowing remittances were received 
from friends who had emigrated to the Colonies, as the money is frequently paid 
through his hands. About 120/. (§600) comes in that way into the parish. It is 
principally intended to take friends out — but about 12/. is appropriated for the sup- 
port of destitute relations at home." p. 144. 

County JVexford. — "The young relatives, whenever they can afford it, ^^zx-e a 
cheerful support to the aged, and, of course, when badly off, their privations must 
fill! also on those depending on them." p. 149. 

County Clare. — " The Rev. Coffey thought that the s7ippo)-t of parents is regard- 
ed more as an act of duty than as a matter ofriglit. It is cheerfully undertaken by 
all who are able to afford it. The parent generally remains with his youngest child, 
who inherits his estate, and he thus continues to enjoy his bed and board, to which, 
it appears, great attachment is felt. The other children bear their share of the bur- 
den, by contributions of potatoes and other food. They rarely give money — but 
sometimes clothes." p. 151. 

" A poor man, named John King, whose son emigrated to America, about three 
years ago, received a remittance of 15/. from him, which he judiciously employed in 
draining a small bog farm, which he held at a very low rent." p. 152. 

City of Cortc. — " The yoitngcr branches feel it a duty to support the old, and 
though it sometimes presses heavily, it seldom produces ill feeling." p. 155. 

County Donegid. — " The instances are very rare of the infirm not being sup- 



APPENDIX. 435 

ported bij their relations, and, where tliey do occur, it arises from some family dis- 
putes, and not from any unwillingness to do so. The poor never complain of the 
support of their parents, though it often gives them enough to do to support their 
own children." p. 161. 

Christopher King stated, " that be has two sons and two daughters in America, 
who send him, every year, at least \bl., which paid his rent." p. 162. 

Samuel Dikenson stated, " that one of his children emigrated to America, leaving 
his wife and children behind him, and sent for them in a year. He sends his father 
as much as (-with some assistance from nnotlier son) is sufficient for his support. 
Ibid. 

Coimly of Londonderry. — " The support of the aged presses severely on the 
younger branches of the family. Unmarried children more frequently support an 
aged parent than married. Many of the former send to the parent the greater part 
of their wages." p. 163. 

County ofGahvay. — "I have often known a family to go between struggling and 
begging for many years, while the children were young, and, ivhe7i the children 
ffretv np, the parent ivas supported by them." p. 166. 

County Carlo-w. — " Mr. Lynch says, I have seen a decent man, who worked for 
the support of a father and sister, in the depth of snow, eating cold potatoes ; at 
the time, he was working for lOd. a day. p. 110. 

III. Female chastity is more highly prized, its violation less frequent, 
and, tvhen it does occur, is attended with more disgrace than among 
similar classes in almost any other country. 

« Mr. Maguire did not think that the demoralization of begging, coupled with ne- 
cessity, ever led to such an extreme as prostitution. At least, he did not recollect an 
instance of a widow having an illegitimate child." p. 118. 

County of Limerick. — "There has been no case of a widow having been driven 
by her necessities to prostitution." p. 123. 

County of Londonderry. — "The widows can never be driven to prostitution. 
But their daughters, who have been brought up in idleness, as beggars, and exposed 
to temptation, frequently fall into vicious habits." p. 131. 

County of Galway. — " It is a matter of notoriety, that incontinence is regarded, 
by the Catholic peasantry of Ireland, with tenfold horror to wliat it is by the Protes- 
tant people of England, p. 134.* 

County Limericlc. — " Mr. Furlong observed, that morality, so far as general inter- 
course is concerned, is preserved to a wonderful extent, even among the poorest, 
particularly when the crowded state in which they live is considered." p. 91. 

" On the subsequent state of girls who have had illegitimate children, Mr. Cell 
stated that such persons seldom get married. They find great difiiculty, also, in 
procuring service." p. 92. 

County Tipperary. — " The effect of having an illegitimate child, on a woman's 
character, is, that she is cast oft' from society, and has little chance of getting a hus- 
band, unless she has a good deal of money. A bastard is thought nothing of. It 
sticks to him through life." p. 93. 

County Jlntrim. — " Girls who have had illegitimate children find most difiiculty in 
procuring husbands on that account. It is not known that individuals of the poorer 
classes are influenced by persons in higher stations to marry such women, who are 

* The following extracts, from the Report of the British Commissioners on the 
Poor Laws, will probably be sufficient to confirm the above statement : 

" In the first place, I appeal to the experience of all overseers in rural districts, if 
the instances of marriage taking place without previous pregnancy are not so very 
rare as to constitute an exception to the general assertion, that pregnancy precedes 
marriage." p. 392. 

" The English law has abolished female chastity, self respect, proper pride, and 
all the charities of domestic life, derived from, or connected with, its existence. It 
has destroyed, likewise, the beneficial influence which this virtue in women reflects 
on the character of men." p. 399. 



436 VliNDICLE HIBERWICE. 

degraded in the opinion of their own sex. And, unless educated and well conducted, 
a bastard would bo objected to by a small farmer as a match for his daughter." p. 94. 

Town of Ballemerci. — "There is no instance known of young men being induced 
to marry such women for the wages procured for their support at the sessions, or by 
the inilucnce of any of the richer class who was the father of the child." p. 96. 

County of IVexford. — " The Rev. Mr. Murphy mentioned a case, well known, 
where a young man, well educated and of excellent character, holding a farm of 140 
acres, was refused by several women beneath his own rank in life, avowedly owing 
to the stain on his birth. He afterwards married a servant." p. 78. 

Coitnlti Clare. — "The mothers of bastards, in three cases out of four, are farmers' 
servants, who are particularly exposed to danger from the promiscuous manner in 
which such servants, both male and female, are obliged, from want of room, to sleep 
together. Farmers' daughters, however, are rarely known to become pregnant frani 
this cause." p. 79. 

" Rev. Mr. Denan said he knew several instances where small famers' sons have 
refused considerable sums held out to marry a gentleman's illegitimate sister or daugh- 
ter." p. 80. 

Countii of Cork. — "No decent man, or man that thought any thing of himself, 
would marry a woman of her kind." p. 87. 

City of Cork. — " A woman who has had an illegitimate child is looked upon with 
contempt, and would not be associated with. But the young women have a great 
deal of discretion, and few of them go astray in that way." p. 90. 

" A good deal of this feeling goes along with the child. Bastard is a term of con- 
tempt — and a small farmer would certainly have an objection to give his daughter 
to a bastard, though otherwise an eligible match." p. 70. 

County Kildare. — "These women are looked upon, by the generality of their own 
sex, with pity and contempt — and a respectable small farmer would object to give 
his daughter to her offspring, unless some great and peculiar advantages would be 
gained." p. 73. 

County of Longford. — "None of the witnesses had ever known the mother of an 
illegitimate child married on account of the wages. They scarcely ever get a hus- 
band when they are known, and generally leave the district." p. 75 

" Few are influenced by the higher classes to marry such a woman. There is no 
instance in this town; and it must be unfrequent any where, as the man who does 
so is considered to disgrace himself. The stigma on the bastard is indelible. There 
is the strongest objection to contract marriage with him." p. 76. 

Connty Westmeuth. — " Such women are looked upon with contempt, especially 
by their own sex." p. 77. 

Connty Donegal. — " Having had an illegitimate child, is a stamp on the character 
of a girl, that can never be got over. The rich have influenced the poor here to 
marry such women, whom their own sons look upon with the greatest contempt." 
p. 97. 

County Kerry. — " The number of bastards in the parish amounted to 6 or 7 all 
together. They are scarcely one per cent, of the births." p. 90. 

County .intrim. — " It is not known that the widows of the town have resorted to 
begging, or that the demoralization, coupled with their necessities, has ended in 
prostitution." p. 125. 

IV. Their charily to persons poorer than themselves is almost with- 
out parallel. 

County Gahvay. — " The poor give ten times as much as the rich, in proportion to 
their means. Persons renting only one acre, and even day labourers, give relief to 
the beggar, if they have it." p. 283. 

" Persons have, I believe, often given away, in the earlier part of the year, so much 
as to leave themselves afterwards in want. I have known," says Mr. St. George, 
" poor persons, who were buying provisions, to give away more than those from whom 
they bought." Ibid. 

County JMayo. — "It is quite common, among mere labourers, to relieve beggars 
in winter, and be themselves in great want in summer." p. 293. 

County Roscommon. — "I saw a very poor creature, who happened to collect more 
food than she actually wanted for the day's subsistence, gave away to another, who 



APPENDIX. 437 

she found, if possible, to be more wretched than herself, as much potatoes at a time 
as aie given at a farmer's house to a beggar." p. 302. 

County Sligo. — " In general, they give something to every one, and, even people 
who may have to go out themselves next month, give to beggars this month." p. 313. 

"Charity is so universal among the poor themselves, that the farmers declared that 
every man wlio had a potatoe would share it." p. 314. 

County Kildare. — " In proportion to their means, the poorer classes are supposed 
to give most to beggars. Even the labourers, who have but their hire to depend 
upon, give a part of their meals and a night's lodging to the beggar." p. 335. 

County JMeatli. — " The support of the poor, as all the witnesses agree, falls on 
the shopkeepers, farmers, and labourers. The gentry, observes Mr. Flood, shut their 
gates against them." p. 342. 

County Wesimeath. — " On the farmers the support of the poor principally falls. 
The labourers, with half an acre, also give. Even the day labourer, who has nothing 
but his cabin, contributes." p. 347. 

County Wexford. — "It sometimes happens, that those who give too freely in the 
beginning of the season, aftcrrvards feel the loant of the provision they have given 
a7vay." p. 351. 

Count Clare. — " Even the labourers possessing no con-acres, and who are obliged 
to buy their provisions, never refuse alms." p. 365. 

County Cork. — "The evidence was quite clear, that the relief of the poor fell 
chiefly on the middle classes, and that the struggling shopkeepers are most liberal, 
often to a degree beyond their means." p. 379. 

County Tipperary. — "It is very common for farmers to give imprudently to beg- 
gars, so as to leave themselves in want at the end of the year." p. 395. 

County Antrim. — " There are many who are frequently compelled to purchase 
potatoes at the end of the season, at a very extraordinary price, whose store, if it had 
not been for the frequent calls on their charity, would probably have lasted till the 
new crop came in." p. 406. 

County Donegal. — " To relieve the wandering beggar is considered, by the poor- 
est class, as one of their religious duties. They never inquire into the cause of his 
being so, and they have a feeling that before long it may be their own case." p. 411. 

" The Kev. Mr. M'Cann says, several small farmers have applied to me to lend them 
small sums, from 5s. to 15s., in order to purchase provisions, whom I knoto to have 
been very liberal in bestoxving charity in the beginning of the year." p. 337. 

" One of the witnesses stated that he knew persons to be obliged to dig up their 
potatoes a month before they were fit for it, who, if they had been more reserved in 
their alms in the beginning of the season, would easily have got through it." Ibid. 

County Londonderry. — " None, even of those who had but one meal in the house, 
would refuse relief for God's sake." p. 437. 

V. The desertion of wives, by their husbands, is of rare occurrence. 

County of Roscommon. — '' There arc no instances of women being abandoned by 
their husbands." p. 24. 

" There are but two instances in the parish (Moore) of women being deserted by 
their husbands." p. 21.3. 

"Instances of women, with children, being deserted by their husbands, are ex- 
tremely rare." 

County of Antrim. — " Husbands very rarely desert their families. A few, how- 
ever, have done so, and have emigrated." p^ 272. 

VI. When outrages take place, they are generally the result of grie- 

vous oppression. 

County of Gal-way. — " Starvation does not cause disturbance or outrage. When a 
man is turned out of his holding, and another put in his stead, revenge and sickness 
of heart cause crime." p. 195. 

" There were 50 ejectments served in this neighbourhood this last month, all on 
persons holding from ten acres to twenty ; some of them have ten children." p. 199. 

.55 



438 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC.^. 

County Kildare. — " The Rev. W. Bourn states, that about the year 1826, upwards 
of 50 families were turned out of their holding, and driven to live by the road side, 
in miserable huts." p. 223. 

"" The Rev. Mr. Brennan states, they attribute all the midnight murders and as- 
sassinations to political causes. But I tell you, Sir, and am ready to swear, if neces- 
sary, that poverty and destitution are at the root." p. 224. 

County Clare. — " Last May, 28 families were put out, and, next May, I am sure 
there will be as many more, in the parish of Killen." p. 284. 

County Westmsath. — " Outrages have scarcely ever arisen from destitution." 
p. 348. 



VII. Sheer distress is (he general cause of mendicancy. 

County Long-ford. — " The children of vagrants are, in most cases, observed to 
adopt industry, when the}' have grown up, although by that time their parents have, 
in general, passed the time of life for manual labour. The Rev. Mr. M'Cann states 
that he can, on the instant, name at least twelve industrious labourers, whom he has 
at one time seen begging." p. 339. 

County Clare. — " It does not appear that those who are driven to beggary give 
up all thoughts of returning to a more decent state of life. On the contrary, even 
after being compelled to bear a vagrant life for years, a strong anxiety is felt for 
shaking ofi'the disgrace. When the children grow up, the mothers generally leave 
off begging." p. 375. 

County Cork. — "Though many beggars are physically better off than labourers, 
yet witnesses do not conceive that any became beggars from choice. None were 
known to do so except from necessity." p. 377. 

Cauniy Galivay. — " Very few become vagrants, in preference to remaining la- 
bourers — I should almost say none. I knew only one instance of a vagrant refusing 
work when offered to him." p. 282. 

County JMayo. — " The general rule is, that men would rather take the lowest 
wages you could offer them for working, than be under the necessity of making so 
many applications to people's charity." p. 291. 

County Hoficommon. — " Vagrants are never persons who prefer that wandering 
life to one of labour. No one ever goes to beg- that can avoid it. Beggars are not 
known to refuse work when offered to them." p. 313. 

County Carlo-w. — " Very few adopt such a life (begging) in preference to remain- 
ing labourers; although there arc instances of beggars in the country refusing to 
work at the ordinary wages, yet such instances are very rare." p. 318. 

County Longford. — "It is stated that individuals reared in begging usually quit 
that mode of living when they arrive at the age of manhood." p. 333. 

" Two years continued begging was considered to habituate persons to it ; but the 
majority beg only when out of work, and return to industry as soon as an opportu- 
nity offers." p. 42!S. 

" Children of beggars are brought to habits of industry after a certain age. No in- 
stance is known of a professional beggar froui childhood. They enlist, emigrate, or 
become labourers. Not one case in a hundred of a sturdy male beggar." p. 39 1. 

"Even those who have been reduced to beg, either personally or by their children 
usually return to industry, when they have recovered." Ibid. 

CoJinty Kerry. — "The Rev. Mr. Fitzgerald observes that it is rare to sec a per- 
son, who is capable of work, begging. _ The feeling against them would be very 
great." p. 380. 

County Tipperary. — " No person takes to begging from choice. If they can pro- 
cure the necessaries of life, they will not beg. Begging- is looked on as disgraceful." 
p. 391. 

"An honest labourer would rather eat dry potatoes by his industry, than if he got 
beef by begging. And it is a common feeling among tradesmen and labourers, that 
they -would rather die than becf for relief." p. 394. 

County Londonderry. — " None have been ever known to beg, who could by em- 
ployment earn a livelihood. All the witnesses agree that beggary id'as looked upon 
as a last resource, to which, except in cases of necessitv, they would not apply." — 
p. 418. 



APPENDIX. 439 

" The small farmers have never been known to become beggars voluntarily — but 
have been frequently 7-educed to that condition." p. 419. 

" All agree that few, if any, would beg, if by employment they could support 
themselves ; and that a labourer with 5.s. or 6s. a week, would never permit his 
family to beg." p. 420. ' 

County Carlo-v. — " The disinclination to adopt the last resource of begging is 
very great. It is looked on as disgraceful, and severe and protracted privation often 
precedes it." p. 143. 

" There are many instances of their being driven to begging ; but it is agreed on 
all hands, iliey tvould be 7iear starr^ing- before they -would do so. Mr. Townsend 
remarks, I remember the time when a labouring man would as soon be accused of a 
capital crime, as of begging. But now, from want of employment, they think nothing 
of it." p. 223. 



VIII. Absentees. 

County Kildare. — " All concur that there are but two instances of non-residents, 
who have subscribed." p. 141. 

County Longford. — " One absentee draws 10,000Z. per annum from the county, 
and 300^ from the parish, without contributing any thing to the poor." p. 157. 

County Antrim. — " The gentry do not subscribe for the support of the poor. The 
absentees contribute nothing." p. 158. 



June 8, 1837. 

Since the preceding pamphlet was published, an important document 
has appeared, which sheds strong light on some of the facts therein 
stated, and the inferences drawn from them. This document contains 
statements of the proceedings of the criminal courts in several of the 
counties in Ireland, which fully corroborate the views in the Report 
of the Commissioners, appointed by the Melbourne administration, to 
investigate the situation of the poorer classes in Ireland. It appears 
beyond all question by these irrefragable statements, that the various 
outrages which have been the subject of so much clamour and abuse 
of the Irish character, have been the result, in a great measure, of griev- 
ous oppression and injustice, hopeless of redress, under the old regime. 
At present, under the wise and parental administration of Lord Mul- 
grave, it is fully proved that the Irish are as amenable to law and order 
as any people in Christendom. The criminal calender will bear an 
advantageous comparison with that of England, or even of the United 
States, and clearly shows that the Irish of the present day deserve the 
characters drawn of them by Edward Coke and Sir John Davies, 
quoted in a preceding page, but here introduced again, on account of 
their important bearing on the present condition of that country. 

" I have been informed by many of those that have had judicial places there, and 
[know] partly of my own knowledge, that THERE IS NO NATION OF THE 
CHRISTIAN WORLD THAT ARE GREATER LOVERS OF JUSTICE 



440 



VINDICI^ HIBERNIG^. 



than they are; -whicli virtue must of course be accompanied by many others." — 
Coke, IV. 349. 

" THERE IS NO NATION OF TEOPLE UNDER THE SUN THAT 
DOTH LOVE EQUAL AND INDIFFERENT JUSTICE BETTER THAN 
THE IRISH; or -will rest better satisfiedivitlitlie execution thereof, although it be 
against themselves ; so that they may have the protection and benefit of tlie laiv, 
\vhen upon jiist cause they do desire it." — Sir John Davif.s, p. 213. 

" In time of peace, tlie Irish are more fearful to offend the law than the English, 
or any other nation -whatsoever." — Idem, 200. 



From a recent London imblication. 

THE STATE OF IRELAND. 

" The state of Ireland at this moment affords a curious simultaneous 
illustration ot" the opposite effects of justice and injustice in the affairs 
of nations. Upon the one hand we see an upright executive producing 
profound social tranquillity, and, upon the other, an unjust branch of 
the legislature causing the highest degree of political excitement. 

" The universal lightness of the county calenders, attested (sometimes 
reluctantly) by the judges, upon all the circviits, in their addresses to 
the grand juries, exhibits the results of a government which has had 
the wisdom and courage to espouse the people, and adopt the method 
of preserving peace by kind usage ; while the rise of associations, and 
the rushing sounds of popular movements, show the effects of a par- 
liamentary power at rigiit angles with the line of the public interest 
and feeling. Here are the novercal and parental principles, and their 
respective consequences, in juxta-position. Here is the system of Lord 
Lyndhurst beside the system of Lord Mulgrave : — the voice of friend- 
ship disbanding the Whitefeet — the language of contumely organizing 
the people. Did the spirit of the executive guide the legislature, we 
should have just as little popular I'crment as liockite insurgency; and 
it is equally plain that did the spirit of the legislature move the admi- 
nistration, we should have botli predial and political agitation in per- 
fection, except so far as the latter might overrule and subdue the 
former. 

" Of what potent efficacy is justice, although a medicine of the class 
of the simples! When a just executive has effected so much for Ire- 
land, what might not be reasonably expected from a parliament actuated 
by the same wise spirit I Notliing can more strikingly demonstrate 
the tendency of the Irish people to peace and social improvement, than 
the advances which they have made in the way of order since the 
accession of the present ministry to office. From the legislature they 
have received nothing but a series of injuries and affronts. Of their 
manifold and vast grievances not one has been redressed, or so much as 
mitigated. Not a crum has fallen from the table of Dives ; not a sore of 
Lazarus has been healed. The government has stood alone — the soli- 
tary source of contentment amongst a hundred springs of disaffection — 
the single element of quiet amidst a hundred causes of distnrbance ; 
yet, standing thus alone, see wliat it has performed ! See the harvest 
that has sprung from a few seeds of justice, and remark also the virtue 
of the soil! how promptly it seconds the good husbandman, and refuses 
to yield tares, let the enemy scatter them in never such abundance. 



APPENDIX. 441 

"As the testimonies of the judges to the peace and moral improve- 
ment of Ireland are of the greatest value at this moment, both as replies 
to the foul calumnies, upon the grounds of which the lords refuse that 
country free institutions, and also as encouragements to the people of 
England and Scotland to persist in their efforts to obtain just laws as 
well as just government for their Irish fellow-citizens, we lay before 
our readers a few extracts from the judicial addresses to the grand 
juries of some of the most Catholic counties in the provinces of Leins- 
ter, Munster, and Connaught. We quote from the Irish papers, and 
we begin with Kilkenny, the state of which county, in the times of 
Lord Stanley and Sir William Gossett, furnished the main argument 
for the coercion act. Its condition, under the present administration, 
we learn from the lips of Baron Penefather and Chief Justice Doherty. 
Baron Penefather presided in the county court — 

"He addressed the grand jury briefly, and said there was no offence in the calen- 
der requiring. particular observation from him." 

Chief Justice Doherty used similar language to the grand jury of the 
city — 

" He had nothing more to say than to congratulate them upon the state of the 
calender, which contained only four, he might rather say three and a half, cases for 
trial." 

Baron Penefather again in Wexford — 

" He was happy to inform them that little was to be done in the criminal depart- 
ment of their duties. If the calender faithfully represented the state of the county, 
it afforded him matter of congratulation, for it was really surprising to see a county 
of such extent so free from crime." 

The learned baron's if adds immense force to his high testimony. 
A compliment is doubled when it is manifestly wrung from him who 
pays it. 

Judge Johnson at the Assizes of Kildare. He said : — 
" The light state of your calender scarcely calls for any observation from me, with 
the exception of one or two cases which particularly call for attention and accu- 
racy in the investigation." 

Judge Burbon at Sligo — 

" He congratulated the grand jury on the tranquil state of the county, as shown 
by the lightness of the calender. In amount, the offences were not more than might 
reasonably be expected in a county of such extent ; and, with respect to quality, he 
was glad to find there was not a single case of murder." 

Baron Foster in Clare — 

" I am happy to congratulate you upon the great diminution of crime which has 
taken place in this county, compared with former periods. The total number on 
the calendar is 37. The number is inconsiderable ; and though there are crimes of 
some enormity on it, still not one appears to partake of an insurrectionary character. 
There are some cases of homicide ; the other ciimes are incidental to every state of 
society." 

The same judge to the grand jury of the city of Limerick : 
" I am happy to inform you the calender is exceedingly light. The crimes for 
trial are only of such a nature as may be found in every, even the best regulated 
stages of society, and particularly amid the population of a densely inhabited city." 

Judge Perrin congratulated the grand jury of the county of Lime- 
rick — 

" On. the reduced state of the calender, which was evidence of the peaceable state 



443 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC.*:. 

of their county. There was no case on the calender demanding particular remark 
from him." 



The remainder of this Appendix, the reader is requested to observe, 
is a sort of 011a Podrida, made up of detached articles, which, though 
bearing strongly on the topics discussed in this work, are generally 
insulated, and have no necessary connexion with each other. 



THE LEGENDARY MASSACRE OF 1641. 

Among the numerous legends propagated, and too generally believed, 
it is stated, by Sir Philip Warwick, that 200,000 Protestants were 
massacred in one week ! ! The pretended massacre was to have com- 
menced on the 23d of October ; yet we find, by a proclamation signed 
by nine of the council, that on the 29th of the month, ivhich termi- 
nates the week, that the insurrection had not then extended to the old 
English of the pale, or of any other part of the kingdom ; and that in 
the proclamation there is no mention of massacre, murder, nor even 
manslaughter. 

By the Lords Justices and Council. 

W. Parsons, Joiix Bohlase : 

Whereas a petition hath been preferred unto us, by divers lords and gentlemen of 
the English pale, in behalf of themselves and the rest of the pale, and other the old 
English of this kingdom, shewing, that whereas a late conspiracy of treason is dis- 
covered of ill-affected persons of the old Irish, and that thereupon — 

A proclamation was published by us, wherein, among other things, it is declared 
that the said conspiracy was perpetrated by Irish papists, without distinction of any ; 
and they, doubting that by those general words of Irish papists they might seem to 
be involved, though '-hey declare themselves confident that we did not intend to 
conclude them therein, in regard they are none of the old Irish, nor of their faction or 
confederacy, but are altogether averse and opposite to all their designs, and all other 
of like condition : we do, therefore, to give them full satisfaction, hereby declare and 
publish, to all his majesty's good subjects in this kingdom, that by the words Irish 
papists we intended only such of the old meer Irish, in the province of Ulster, as 
have plotted, contrived, and been actors in this treason, and others who adhere to 
them ; and that ive did not any tvay intend or mean thereby any of the old Eiig-lish 
of the pale, nor of any other parts of this kingdom, we being well assured of their 
fidelities to the crown, and having experience of the good atfections and services of 
their ancestors in former times of danger and rebellion. And we further require all 
his majesty's loving subjects, whether protestants or papists, to forbear upbraiding 
matters of religion one against the other, and that upon pain of his majesty's indig- 
nation. Given at his majesty's castle of Dublin, the twenty-ninth of October, six- 
teen hundred and forty-one. 

R. Ranelagh, Ger. Lowther, 

R. Dillon, Jo. Temple, 

An. Midensis, Fr. Willoughbt, 

Ar. LosTus, Ja. Ware. 

Gborge Shurley, [Nat.son, II. 631. 



APPENDIX. 443 

Specimens of the depositions on which the Irish were arraigned, 
found guilty, and plundered of their estates. 

Matthew Browne, of Cloiiiss, gentleman, deposeth, that he heard Peter Bath say, 
that they looked to have the king, to put out the words, " Defender of the Faith ;" 
for none was supreme of the Church, and defender of the faith, but the pope. 

Richard Whiston of Kilvane [inter cast.] deposeth, that Luke Birne of Kilvano 
said, he would have their religion flourish, no thanks to the king. 

Edward Deasclyc [inter cset.] deposeth, that Luke Toole and Luke Birne, offered 
a pass to this examinant, which they said would be better than the king's pass. 

William Wright of Culmonyn, [inter csEt.] deposeth, that John Good of Clomy 
Sawne and Dermot Mac Phelmi said, that they hoped to have all Protestants hanged 
within one fortnight, and him that did protect them. 

Richard Knowles of Newtownc [inter alia] deposeth, that Rory Magwire, Richard 
Nugent, Donogh Magwire, by whose means he was robbed, some of the said rob- 
bers said, that they had a king of their own in Ireland. 

Nicholas Michaell of Farnam [inter caet.] deposeth, that he heard the parties that 
robbed him say, they had an Irish king amongst them, and they not regarded king 
Charles, the king of England. 

Martha Cuhne deposeth, that one Art. Mac Patrick, Mac Toole Boy, Mac Ma- 
howne, speaking to her in Irish, she desired him to deliver himself in English, for 
she understood not Irish, who answered her in English, that such as spoke in 
English should pay ten shillings to the king; and that deponent demanding of him 
what king ; he answered, what king but the Earl of Tyrone ? — Rusuwohtk, iv. 
404, 405. 



The case of Lord Castlehaven exhibits the utter disregard of honour, 
honesty, or justice of the lords justices, and their determination to 
plunder and ruin the Irisli nobility and gentry, without the slightest 
grounds to palliate their rapacity. 

CASE OF LORD CASTLEHAVEN. 

" Among all the groundless pretences for bills of indictment of high treason at this 
time at Dublin, sure none could equal that which was found against Lord Castlehaven. 
He had offered his services to the ministers at the breaking out of this rebellion, and 
had been rejected on account of his religion ; that he had desired a pass into Eng- 
land that he might attend the parliament there, of which he was a peer, which had 
been refused ; and that he was ordered home to his house in the country, where he 
did all the service in his power to the distressed English. But now, on the mere 
pretence that a lame boy, blind of one eye, kept by his lordship out of charity to whip 
the dogs away, had been instrumental to a servant of. Lord Antrim's being taken by 
the rebels. Lord Castlehaven was indicted of high treason. Colonel Touchet, his 
brother, being then at Dublin, where the bill was found, as soon as he heard of it, 
went and complained to the lords justices of this ill usage ; but, however, he said he 
would go and fetch his lordship up, if they would assign him a party of horse for a 
convoy ; which they refusing, he went accompanied with some of his friends. 
The earl was surprised, but came immediately with them ; and as soon as he arrived 
at Dublin, addressed himself to Lord Ormond, whilst his brother went to the coun- 
cil to inform them that Lord Castlehaven was there. Their answer was, that they 
could say nothing to it till his lordship appeared before them ; and when he waited 
at the castle, for that purpose, they committed him, without calling him in, to the cus- 
tody of one of the sheriffs of Dublin. After the many extraordinary things that we 
have seen were done by this administration, we shall not wonder at this treatment 
of a peer of England, as well as of that kingdom." — W"arneb, 200, 201. 



Examination of Hugh Oge M'Mahon, one of the persons accused 






444 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE. 

by the perjurer O'Connally, of the legendary project of seizing the 
castle of Dublin on the 23d of October, 1G41. 

The examination of Hugh Ogc Macmahon, of Connaught, in the county of 
Mona«Than, Esquire, aged 35 years, or thereabouts, taken before the right honourable 
the lords justices and council. 

" The said examinat saith, that he thinks there will be trouble this day throughout 
all the kingdom of Ireland, and that all the fortifications of Ireland -will be taken this 
day, as he thinks ; and he saith, that he thinks that it is so far gone by this time that 
Ireland cannot help it ; he saith he was told this by captain Bryan O'Neal ; he saith 
that captain Bryan O'Neal and captain Hugh Burne were designed for the surprising 
of the castle of Dublin, and that if this examinat were one for surprizing the castle 
of Dublin, these captains were principal therein; he saith the place of meeting was 
to be at the examinat's lodging ; he saith that tiventy prime men of every county in 
Irehmd were to be at Dublin, this last night, concerning this matter ; and that they 
were to consult of it this morning at the examinat's lodging ; their weapons were to 
be swords and skcnes, and that the captains that were raising men in the Irish coun- 
ties were they that should bring men hither to second the business ; he saith when 
they had Dublin, they made sure of the rest, and expected to be furnished with more 
arms at Dublin ; he said I am now in your hands, use me as you will, I am sure I shall 
be shortly revenged. And being demanded whether the lord Macguire was one ap- 
pointed to this business, he at last said he thought he was. 

WILLIAM PARSONS, 

R. DlLLOJT, TflO. RoTHEKHAM, 

Ad. Loftus, R. Meredith. 

J. Tempix, [Nalson, II. 521. 

To comment on this most miserable Arabian or Munchausen Tale, 
would be a mere waste of time. Of 640 conspirators (twenty out of 
each of the thirty-two counties) which O'Connally swore were to 
assemble (whether in Kendal Green, or h\x& and blue, is not stated), 
only two were ever taken or examined, and the above related story 
palmed on one of them, proves that the justices by whom it must have 
been concocted were as deficient of skill as of honesty or justice. 



In a preceding part of this work, I have given a slight sketch of tile 
following law case; but deem it proper to present it at full length, in 
all its hideous deformity, as stated in the Reports of Gorges Edmond 
Howard, to display, to the abhorrence of the reader, the piratical exe- 
cution of the more than piratical code of " laws to prevent the growth of 
popery," which Edmund Burke so justly stigmatized as "ferocious." 
It appears that a valuable manor was wrested from the bona fide pur- 
chasers fifteen years after purchase, by a quibble which would have 
better become a court held in a cavern by Blackbeard, Kidd, and Mor- 
gan, than the House of Lords in England, by which, on appeal, the 
iniquitous award was sanctioned, and the property transferred to the 
rapacious informer. 

"TOMLINSON against FARRELL, 

" In Chancery, I3t/i December, 1759; the case was thus: 

" The defendant Edward Farrell was born of popish parents, and was educated in 
and professed the popish religion, long after he had attained his age of twelve 
years ; but before he had attained his age of twenty-one years, to wit, on the 26th 
day of November, 1741, he first declared himself a protestant, and on the said 26th 
of November, 1741, did publicly in the parish church of St. Bridget's, in the city 



APPENDIX. 445 

of Dublin, renounce the errors of the church of Rome, and on the 28th day of 
November, 1741, obtahicd from the then Lord Archbishop of Dublin, a certificate 
that he had renounced the errors of the church of Rome, as aforesaid. 

" On the 3d day of December, in the said year 1741, the defendant filed the said 
certificate in the roll's oflice of the court of chancery. 

" On Sunday the IGth day of May, 1742, and not before, the defendant took and 
received the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's-supper, according to the order and usage 
of the church of Ireland, in the parish church of St. Peter, in the city of Dublin, 
and obtained a certificate thereof from the minister and church-wardens of the said 
parish, 

" In Easter Term, that is to say on the 26th day of May, in the said year 1742, 
the defendant produced, proved, and filed, his certificate, in his majesty's court of 
King's Bench, and on the same day, and not before, there made and subscribed the 
declaration, and took the oath of abjuration, pursuant to the act. 

" And on the 23d day of August, 1742, filed in the roll's ofiice of the court of 
chancery, a certificate that he had taken the oath of abjuration, and subscribed the 
declaration. 

" And on the 18th day of January, 1754, by deeds of lease and release, bearing 
date respectively the 17th and 18th days of January, 1754, for the considerations 
therein mentioned, Francis O'Farrell, and others, granted and conveyed the manor, 
town and lands of Mornine, in the county of Longford, and other lands, unto the 
defendant his heirs and assigns for ever. 

" On the 15th day of January, 1755, the plaintiff Samuel Tomlinson exhibited 
his bill, grounded on the several acts of parliament made in the kingdom of Ire- 
land, to prevent the further growth of popery, against the defendant as a protestant 
discoverer to be decreed to the said purchased premises, alleging, that, by the 
popery laws of Ireland, the defendant was disqualified to make the said purchase, 
because he did not take and subscribe the oaths, and repeat and subscribe the de- 
claration, nor file a certificate thereof in the court of chancery, or one of the four 
courts at Dublin, luithin six lunar months from the 26th of JVovember, 1741, 
though he complied with all the requisites a few days after the six months ex- 
pired. 

" To this bill the defendant pleaded and answered, admitting by his answer that 
he was born of popish parents, and professed the popish religion until he was of 
years of discretion ; but by his plea set forth the performance of the requisites 
herein before mentioned, in such manner and at such times as herein also men- 
tioned ; that since his conformity he had attended the service of the church, and 
duties of religion as a protestant ; and had several times received the sacrament, 
according to the usage of the church of Ireland ; and had, upon divers occasions, 
taken and subscribed the oaths, and repeated and subscribed the declaration men- 
tioned In the statute. He denied that he was then a papist, or had been so at any 
time since the 26th of November, 1741 ; but admitted he was born of popish pa- 
rents, and educated in and professed the popish religion ; but that before he had 
attained his age of twenty-one years, he did, on the 26th day of November, 1741, 
first profess and declare himself a protestant, and had never since been a papist. 

"The plea was argued on the 4th day of July, 1755, and it was then ordered, 
that the benefit thereof should be reserved to the hearing of the cause, with liberty 
to the plaintiff to except to some particular matters mentioned in the order.* 

" The plaintiff, on the 25th day of July, 1755, filed exceptions to the plea and 
answer, and the defendant on the 28th day of April, 1756, put in a further answer ; 
and the plaintiff having replied to the defendant's answers, and the cause being at 
issue, witnesses were examined on the plaintiff's part, but none for the defendant. 

"The cause having come on to be heard in Trinity Term, 1758, it was argued 
for the plaintiff; 

* " It being a part of the prayer of the bill, that the defendant should bring the title 
deeds into court, and to set out under what title, and from whom he claimed, and at 
what time he purchased, Lord Chancellor was at first unwilling to determine this point 
upon the plea, thinking that as it did not appear clearly that the plea should be overruled, 
the defendant should bring the deeds into court, and set forth his title ; but afterwards 
directing the benefit of the plea to be reserved till the hearing, with liberty to the plain- 
tiff to except, &:c., he would not oblige the defendant to disclose his^ title, or from whom 
he purchased." 

56 



446 VINDICr^ HIBERNIC^. 

" First; that it was admitted by the defendant that he was a papist until the age 
of discretion ; that the act of 8 Anne, § 14., positively ordains, that no convert 
from the popish to the protcstant religion shall be deemed a protestant, within the 
intent of that or the former act, 2d Anne, or take benefit thereby, notwithstanding 
such person so professing himself a protestant shall procure a certificate from the 
bishop, unless he shall, -uithin the space of six months next after his declaring' 
himself a protestant, receive the sacrament, make and subscribe the declaration 
there mentioned, and take the abjuration oath, and file certificates thereof in some 
of the courts of justice ; which the defendant had not done ; that his recantation 
from popery was on the 2Gth of November, 1741 ; the six monlhs from that time 
must, by the knoivn rules of lav, be consisted to be not calcjidar, but lunar, 
monlhs, so that they expired the loth of Jfay, 1742, and the defendant did not 
receive the sacrament until the I6th, nor take the oath and subscribe the dcclafa- 
tion until the 2Gth of that same ?vlay ; that he never therefore complied with the 
requisites of the acts ; and when the legislature imposes terms, and prescribes a 
thing to be done, within a certain time, the lapse even of a day is fatal, as no 
inferior court can admit of any terms, but such as directly and precisely satisfy the 
law. 

" Secondly; that the two acts of the 2d and 8th of Anne, being in pari materia, 
and the latter made fcr explaining and amending the former, are to be taken and 
construed together, as making but one law ; that the 2d Anne,- s. 7, 8., disables 
papists from purchasing any estate in land but for thirty-one years, and declares 
that the children of papists shall be taken for papists, until by their conformity they 
appear to be protestants ; what the conformity must be is laid dov^n in precise terms, 
by 8 Anne, s. 14, viz. besides recantation, certified by the bishop, the oath must be 
taken, and the declaration subscribed, within six months, else no convert is to be 
deemed a protestant, within the intent of that or the former act, or to take benefit 
thereby ; and this rule is plainly meant to enlarge and enforce the provision in s. 15, 
of the former act. That the defendant therefore, as a child of a papist, and him- 
self a papist, was absolutely disabled from purchasing beyond terms of thirty-one 
years, and could never take benefit of the provision made for converts, i. e. remove 
his disability, but by such a conformity as the acts require. 

" Thirdly. That a full performance of all the requisites of the acts is admitted 
to be necessar}' for a converted son to reduce his popish father to a tenancy for life, 
upon s. 3, of 2d Anne, and for enabling converted papists to take by descent, or a 
remainder limited by devise or gift, after the death of a protestant, upon s. 8, and 
for preventing the gavel-kind, and preserving the estate in a regular course of de- 
scent, upon s. 10 and 12, all which are old rights; and it is impossible the legisla- 
ture should not intend an equal notoriety of conversion for the acquisition of new 
rights as for the preservation of old ; otherwise if the defendant's father, who is a 
papist, or any ])rotestant ancestor of his should die, seized of lands of inheritance, 
he could take but in gavel-kind from the one, and not at all from the other, until 
his full conformity, but might take as much as he pleased by original purchase ; so 
that as to one purpose, he would be still a disabled papist, but as to the other, a 
qualified protestant, which was surely too absurd to be countenanced. 

"Fourthly. That by 6 Geo. I. chap. 6, the. children of popish parents, who from 
the age of twelve years have been constantly bred up in the protestant religion, 
cannot by such education, without having also received the sacrament, remove their 
disability ; nor are they iipon a relapse, after the age of eighteen, guilty of premu- 
nire, without that essential performed ; which shows that bare profession of pro- 
testantism, without more, neither qualifies nor subjects to penalty, and the law 
never meant more favour to the children of papists, continuing papists to their man- 
hood, than to those educated protestants from twelve years of age. 

" Fifthly. And that the defendant, though his answer was replied to, and thereby 
his popery fully in issue, had not proved one single act of conformity to the esta- 
blished church, from his taking the oaths in May, 1742, but had rested his defence 
on the sulncicncy of a bare declaration of protestantism, which pretty clearly evinced 
how great was the sincerity of his conversion. 

" It was argued, for the defendant; 

" First. That it had been adjudged in many cases determined in Ireland, upon 
the statutes 2d and 8th of Queen Anne, that no strict mode of conformity is re- 
quired, to enable a convert from popery to purchase lands, or any specific evidence 



APPENDIX. 447 

of it ; for that under both acts no person is disqualified to purchase but a papist, or 
person professing the popish religion. In which case the onus of proof lies on the 
party, who seeks to take advantage of the disability. And that the rule had never 
been laid down, that in such a case it would be sufficient for a protestant discoverer 
to prove the defendant the son of a papist, and that he continued such till the age 
of twelve years, without showing him a papist, or person professing the popish 
religion, at the time of his purchase ; because though he may not be a protestant 
convert, conforming to the established church, so as to entitle himself to the benefit 
of new rights, or to the restitution of old ones, within the words of these statutes ; 
yet it does not follow, that he must therefore of necessity be a papist, within the 
disabling or penal clauses. 

" Nay, it was even urged by some of the counsel for the defendant, that a man's 
declaring himself a protestant, without performing any of the requisites of the acts, 
sufficiently enables him to purchase; that being the subject's birth-right, and not to 
be considered as taking benefit of the acts, and that such had been the received 
opinion.* 

" Secondly. That the statute 4th George I. c. 9, which is a perpetual law for 
encouraging protestant strangers, clearly shows that the intention of the legislature 
was to make Ireland a protestant country, yet there are no particular terms of con- 
formity imposed upon such protestant strangers, but to take the oaths and subscribe 
the declaration ; and these persons, though perhaps pa[)ists the day before they 
landed in Ireland, are not only naturalized and made free of corporations, but have 
several other privileges and immunities ; that it would therefore be harsh and un- 
reasonable to say, that a natural born subject, who has conformed in his minority, 
and is still a protestant, shall be stripped of his purchase, as a papist, in favour of 
an informer, even supposing he had made some trifling mistake in the mode of his 
conformity, or in the time of taking the oaths, or in perpetuating the evidence, by 
which it is required to be proved. 

" Thirdly. That if this determination should stand, estates in Ireland to anim- 
tnense value, which have been purchased by converts, ■who have not filed certifi- 
cates ■within six lunar inonths, (omissions most frequently imputed to attornies and 
others, appointed by persons remote from Dublin,) -luill be -wrested not only out of 
their hands, and the hands of their legal representatives, by popish heirs and pro- 
testant informers, but from protestant purchasers, who have bought from and de- 
rived title under them ; for a purchase from a disqualified person leaves the estate 
in the hands of a purchaser open to the demand of the heirs, or suit of the in- 
former, as much as it was in the hands of the first purchaser; nor is there any 
limitation of time prescribed to this discoverer's suit. 

" And fourthly. That many other inconveniences will also follow from this de- 
termination ; the children of a convert father or mother, who may have omitted to 
file such certificates, must be looked upon as papists, if such children shall not be 
able at any distance of time, when the question may arise, to make precise proof 
that they have been protestants from the age of twelve years; converts from popery 
who have conformed to the established church in England, or in the Colonies, as 
the laws of England require, or who have joined themselves to protestant dissenters, 
under the protection of the toleration act in England, will nevertheless, in Ireland, 
be subject to all the disabilities and incapacities to which the papists are liable. 
And converts from popery, omitting to file such certificates within the time limited, 
■will be protected from prosecutions for relapsing to popery, even though it should 
be otherwise notorious, from the most satisfactory and authentic proofs, that they 
once conformed to the established church. 

" These being the arguments used by the counsel for the parties, on the hearing, 

* "In the re|>ly of the plaintiff's counsel it was denied that such had been the re- 
ceived opinion, unless the evasion from 2(1 of Anne, recited in the preamble of 8 Anne, 



as is suggested, befal a few protestantpureliasers, (which il is not admitted would be the 
case,) it is not to be put in competition with the inconveniencies attending the construc- 
tion contended for by the defendant, whereby every pretended convert, upon a bare de- 
claration of his being a protestant, may be at liberty to purchase, contrary not only to 
the whole scope and intention, but to the very letter of the acts." 



448 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC.^. 

on both sides, and his lordship having taken time to consider thereof, until the 25th 
day of January, 1759, was then pleased to order that a case should be stated upon 
the pleadings and proofs in the cause, and sent to the court of King's Bench, for 
their opinion, ' Whether the defendant, at the time of the purchase in the plead- 
ings mentioned, was a person qualified to purchase lands of inheritance, accord- 
ing to the true intent and meaning of the popery acts in the pleadings mentioned, 
or not.' 

" A case was accordingly settled and agreed to on both sides, and sent to the 
said court, as is first stated. 

" And the question was, whether the defendant Edward Farrell, at the time of 
making the said purchase, was duly qualified, according to the several acts of par- 
liament made in the said kingdom against the further growth of popery, to become 
a purchaser of the said lands of inheritance in fee-simple for his own use and 
benefit. 

" The said case, so stated and agreed to, was argued by counsel on both sides, in 
Easter and Trinity Terms, 1759, before the lord Chief Justice Caulfield, and Mr. 
Justice Robinson, and on the 4th of July, 1759, they respectively certified their 
opinions as follows : 

" If the defendant, Edward Farrell, was really a protestant at the time of his 
purchase, I think he was well qualified to make such purchase, without performing 
all or any of the requisites mentioned in the first and second popery acts ; but as it 
docs not appear to me, in this case, that the defendant is either admitted or proved 
to be really a protestant, the bare performing the I'equisites in the said acts, thirteen 
years before his purchase, without more either before or since, is, I think, hardly 
sufficient to prove him a protestant. 

" St. Geokge Caulfield. 
" Upon consideration of the foregoing case, inasmuch as the defendant Edward 
Farrell, who is a convert from popery, did not complete his conformity to the 
Church of Ireland, as by law established, by performing all the additional requisites 
within the time prescribed, I am of opinion, that, at the time of making the pur- 
chase in the case mentioned, he was not duly qualified, according to the several acts 
of parliament made in this kingdom against the further growth of popery, to become 
a purchaser of the said lands of inheritance in fee-simple for his own use and benefit. 
And I humbly submit to your lordship the following grounds and reasons of my 
opinion. 

" First. I conceive that the children of papists, who profess the popish religion 
after attaining their age of twelve years, whatever their religion really and in fact 
may afterwards be, remain, and are papists by construction of law, until by a 
regular and complete conformity they appear to be protestants ; and by a clause in 
the same act of tlie second of Queen Anne, every papist, (as well as persons pro- 
fessing the popish religion) is disabled from purchasing estates in land, other than 
terms not exceeding thirty-one years. Wherefore, in my opinion, this class of 
constructive papists, to which the defendant belongs, falls within the express letter 
of this disability. 

" Secondly. This opinion, I apprehend, receives strength from another clause in 
that act, which directs, that no person shall take benefit by it, as a protestant, within 
the intent and meaning thereof, who shall not perform the requisites therein pre- 
scribed ; forasmuch as I conceive removing a disability to be taking a benefit, espe- 
cially upon the construction of these laws, which in many instances have made 
regular conformity requisite for even the preserving old rights. 

"Thirdly. And this opinion is, in my apprehension, farther enforced by the 
clause in the act of the 8th of Queen Anne, which enacts. That no person, who 
hath turned or shall turn from the popish to the protestant religion, as by law 
established, shall be deemed or taken to be a protestant, within the intention of 
that or the former act, or shall take benefit thereby, without also performing the 
additional requisites therein mentioned. 

"Fourthly. These two acts, I conceive, are to be construed as if originally one 
and incorporated together ; the second being to amend as well as explain the first. 
And the construction above given seems to me to make the two laws stand most 
consistently together, and to give all the material words in both an eflectual and 
uniform operation, without rejectihg any of them, or forcing them into an.ungram- 
natical meaning, and without supposing the legislature to make use of vain and 



APPENDIX. 449 

unnecessary repetition ; to all which objections, every other interpretation oflered 
before us in argument seems to me to be liable. 

" Fifthly. As under the express letter of these laws the children of papists, pro- 
fessing the popish religion after their age of twelve years, are until a regular and 
complete conformity to be deemed papists, and consequently as I conceive, disabled 
from purchasing ; so this opinion seems to me most effectually to answer the design 
and ends of these laws, which in this respect, I apprehend, ought not to be considered 
as penal, but as remedial and constitutional laws, made for the preservation and 
security of the protestant interest and establishment in this kingdom. 

" It appears (among other reasons) from the sacramental test, introduced in the 
first of these laws, that one great end of them was to increase the members of the 
established church, and this end is best and most consistently answered, by exacting 
from converts a regular and complete conformity in acts of pubUc notoriety, authen- 
tically evidenced by matter on record. 

"Sixthly. By holding converts to such conformity the public is best secured 
against their relapsing to popery, which, without such a regular conformity, I con- 
ceive to be an offence not punishable under the acts of Queen Anne ; and this 
seems to have been the opinion of the legislature, in the act of the 6th of King 
George I., for when the regular conformity of the children of papists was I'ispensed 
with, in the circumstances therein mentioned, a special clause was thought neces- 
sary to make their relapse penal. 

"Seventhly. A regular and complete confoYxnity is necessary foi' a -converted 
son to 7nake his father tenant for life, or to preserve the ordinary course of descent 
against the gavel-kind ; it is no less necessary to entitle a convert to take by gift, 
devise, or remainder, estates in lands which had belonged to protestants ; the right 
to keep or to take in these two last mentioned ways is as much an ordinary right of 
subjects, as that of acquiring by purchase ; and the removing the disability of 
papists, in all these several cases, is an equal benefit, and not more a benefit in any 
one of the cases than in another. The legislature has required the removal of 
the disabiHty, by solemn acts of notoriety, for taking or keeping their family estates ; 
and it would, in my opinion, be unreasonable to suppose, against the letter of the 
law, an intention to leave converts looser as to acquiring new property ; which in 
the common course of things must be a more likely means of continuing and keep- 
ing up a landed interest. 

" Ctin. RoBiNsox. 
" The cause was heard in the court of chancery, on the said two certificates, and 
the merits, the 12th, 13th, and 16th days of November, 1759, and the lord chan- 
cellor took time to consider until the 13th of December following; when it was 
ordered, adjudged and decreed, that the plaintiff as first protestant discoverer, by 
virtue of the popery acts in the pleadings mentioned, was entitled to the benefit of 
the purchase made by the defendant of the lands in the pleadings mentioned, and 
that an injunction, directed to the sheriff of the county of Longford, should be 
awarded to put the plaintiff into and from time to time to quiet and establish him in 
the possession of the said lands ; and that the defendant should deliver over to the 
plaintiff all deeds, conveyances, and writings, any way relating to the title of the 
said lands ; and that the plaintiff should make up and enroll a decree with costs. 

" From this decree the defendant, Edward Farrell, appealed to the house of lords 
of Great Britain, on the 19th of February, 1761, who aflirmed it in omnibus."* 

• " Afterwards, the very same question received the like determination in this court, 
in the case of Nugent against Nugent and Lord Howth, and the eonti-ary, in December, 
1762, although it was fully proved in the cause, by evidence of liie first credit, that 
the person who had become convert had never shown the least disposition to relapse, 
but the contrary absolutely, by a strict and constant attendance on the establislied wor- 
ship and the Holy Sacrament to the latest moments ot bis life, and that he died a sin- 
cere protestant ; and although he had devised his estate to a protestant, in prejudice of 
his brother and heir at law, who was also a convert, but had regularly conformed ; 
thus strictly are these laws (considered as remedial) generally construed." 



450 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE. 



The following Detail of the enormous exactions, oppressions, and 
rapine, perpetrated on the Irish, ivas, after due debate, agreed to 
by a Convention of Delegates from all parts of the kingdom, held 
at Trim, March 17, 1642. 

" To the King^s Most Excellent Majestie. 

" Most gracious Sovereign. 

" Wee your majestie's most dutiful! and loyall subjects the catholiques of 
your highness' kingdome of Ireland, being necessitated to fake armes for the pre- 
servation of our religion, the maintenance of your majestie's rights and preroga- 
tives, the natural and just defence of our lives and estates, and the liberties of our 
country, liavc often since the beginning of these troubles attempted to present our 
humble coinplaynts unto your royal view; but v/e are frustrated of our hopes 
therein by the power and vigilance of our adversaryes, (the now lords justices and 
other ministers of state in this kingdom,) who by the assistance of the malignant 
partie in England now in armes against your royall person, with less difficultie to 
attain" the bad ends they proposed to themselves of extirpateing our religion and 
nation, have hitherto debarred us of any access to your majesty's justice, which 
occasioned the effusion of so much innocent blood, and other mischiefs in this your 
kingdom, and that otherwise might well bee prevented. And whereas of late notice 
was sent unto us of a commission granted by your majestic to the right honorable 
the Lord Marques of Ormond. and others, authorizing them to heare what we shall 
say or propound, and the same to transmit to your majestie in writing, which 
your majestie's gratious and princely favour, wee finde to be accompanied with 
these words, viz. — (albeit rvee doe extreamly detest the odious rebellion rvhich the 
recvsants of Ireland have iviihoiit gromtd and colmir raysed against ns, our 
croxvne, and dignifie,) which words wee doe in all humilitie conceive to have pro- 
ceeded from the misrepresentations of our adversaries ; and therefore doe protest, 
we have been therein maliciously traduced to your majestie, having never enter- 
tayned any rebellious thoughts against your majestie, your crowne or dignitie ; but 
allways have been, and ever will continue your majestie's most faithfull and loyall 
subiects, and doe most humbly beseech your majestie soe to owne and avowe us ; and 
as such wee present unto your majestie these ensueing grievances and causes of the 
present distempers. 

" Imprimis, The catholiques of this kingdome, whome no reward could invite, no 
persecution could enforce to forsake that religion professed by them and their ancestors 
for thirteene hundred years, or thereabouts, are since the second yeare of the reigne 
of Queene Elizabeth, made incapable of places of honour or trust, in church or 
commonwealth, their nobles become contemptible, their gentry debarred from learn- 
ing in universities, or publick schools within this kingdom ; their younger brothers 
put by all manner of imployment in their native country, and necessitated (to their 
great discomfort, and impoverishment of the land) to seeke education and for- 
tune abroad ; misfortunes made incident to the said catholiques of Ireland only, 
(their numbers, qualitie and loyalltie considered) of all the nations of Christen- 
dome. 

" 2dly, That by this incapacitie, which in respect of their religion was im- 
posed upon the said catholiques ; men of meane condition and qualitie for the 
most part, were in this kingdome imployed in places of the greatest honour and trust, 
who being to begin a fortune, built it on the ruines of the catholic natives, at all 
times lying open to be discountenanced and wrought upon, and who (because 
they would seeme to be carefull of the government,) did from tyme to tyme suggest 
false and malicious matters against them, to render them suspected and odious in 
England ; from which ungrounded informations, and their many other ill offices, 
these mischiefs have befallen the catholiques of Ireland, first the oppositions given 
to all the graces and favours that your majestie or your late royall father promised, 
or intended to the natives of this kingdom." " Secondly, the procuring false 
inquisitions upon feigned titles of their estates,against many hundred years' posses- 
sion, and no travers or petition of right admitted thereunto, and jurors denying to 
find such offices were censured even to publique inl'amie and ruine of their estates ; 



APPENDIX. • 451 

thefindeing thereof being against their consciences and evidences, and nothing must 
stand against such offices taken of great and considerable parts of the kingdonie, but 
letters pattcnt under the great seale ; and if letters patent were produced (as in most 
cases they were,) none must be allowed valid, nor yet sought to be legally avoided : 
soe that of late times, by the underhand working of Sir William Parsons, knight, now 
one of the lords justices here, and the arbitrary illegal power of the two impeached 
judges in parliament, and others drawn by their advise and counsel!, one hundred 
and fifty letters patents were avoyded one morning ; which course continued until all 
the patents of the kingdom, to a few -were by them and their associates declared void; 
such was the care those ministers had of your majestie's great seale, being the 
publiquc faith of the kingdom ; this way of service in show only pretended for your 
majestic, proved to your disservice, and to the immoderate and too timely advance- 
ment of the said ministers of state, and their adherents, and nearly to the utter mine 
of the said catholiques. 

" 3dly. That, whereas your majestie's royall father. King James, having a princely 
and fatherly care of this kiiigdome, was graciously pleased to graunt several large 
and beneficial commissions, under the great scale of England, and several instruc- 
tions and letters under his privie signett, for passing and securing the estates of 
his subjects here by letters pattents under the great seale, and letters pattents accord- 
ingly were there passed, fynes payed, old rents encreased, and new rents "reserved 
to the crowne. And the said late king was further gratiously pleased, att several 
tymes to send divers honorable persons of integritie, knowledge, and experience, to 
examine the grievances of this kingdome, and to settle and establish a course for 
redress thereof. And whereas, your majestic was gratiously pleased, in the fourth 
year of your reigne, to vouchsafe a favourable heareing to the grievances presented 
unto you by agents from this kingdome ; and thereupon did graunt many graces and 
favours unto your subjects thereof, for securitie of their estates, and redress for re- 
move of those heavie pressures, under which they have long groaned ; which acts 
of justice and grace extended to this people by your majestie, and your said royall 
father, did afford them great content, yett such was, and is yett, the immortall 
hatred of some of the said ministers of state and especially of Sir William Par- 
sons, the said impeached judges and their adherents, to any welfare and happiness 
of this nation, and their ambition to make themselves still greater and richer, by 
the total ruine and extirpation of this people ; that under pretence of your majes- 
tie's service, the publique faith involved in those grants were violated, and the grace 
and goodness intended, by two glorious kings successively to a faithfull people made 
unprofitable. 

" 4th. The illegal, arbitrary, and unlawfull proceedings of the said William Par- 
sons and one of the said impeached judges and their adherents and instruments in 
the court of wards, and the many wilfully erroneous decrees and judgments of that 
court, by which the heirs of catholique noblemen and other catholiques were most 
cruelly and tyrannically dealt wiihall, destroyed in their estates, and bred in disso- 
lution and ignorance, their parents' debts unsatisfied, their younger brothers and 
sisters left wholly unprovided for, the auncient and appearing tenures of mesne 
lords unregarded ; estates valid in law, and made for valuable considerations, avoyded 
against law ; and the whole land filled upp with the frequent swarms of exheators, 
feodaryes, pursuivants, and others by authoritie of that court. 

" 5th. The said catholiques, notwithstanding the heavy pressures beforementioned, 
and other grievances, in part represented to your majestie by the late committees of 
both houses of parliament of this kingdom (whereunto they hunibly desire that 
relation being had, and redress obtained therein) did ready ly and without reluctance 
or repining, contribute to all the subsidies, loanes and other extraordinary graunts 
made to your majestie in this kingdome, since the beginning of your reigne, 
amounting vnto ivell neare one millioii of pounds, over and above yotir majestie^ s 
revenue, both certain and casuall ; and although the said catholiques were in par- 
liament and otherwise the most forward in graunting the said sumes, and did bear 
nyne parts of ten in the payments thereof, yet such was the power of their adver- 
saryes and the advantage they gained by the opportunitie of their continual! address 
to your majestie, to encrease their reputation by getting in of those moneys, and 
their authoritie in the distribution thereof to your majestie's great disservice, that 
they assumed to themselves to be the procures thereof and represented the said 
catholiques as obstinate and refractory. 

" 6th. The army raised for your majestie's service here at the great charge of the 



452 VINDICL^ HIBERNIC^. 

kingdome was disbanded by the pressing importunitie of the malignant partie in 
England, not giving way that your inajestie should take a desire therein with the 
parliament here ; alledgingthe said army was popish, and therefore not to be trusted ; 
and although the world could witness the unwarrantable and unexampled invasion 
made by the malignant partie of the parliament of England, uppon your majestie's 
honour, rights, prerogatives, and principal flowers of your crowne ; and that the 
said Sir William Parsons, Sir Adam Loftus, knight, your majestie's vice-treasurer 
of this kingdome, and others their adherents did declare that an army of ten thou- 
sand Scotts was to arrive in this kingdome, to force the said catholiques to change 
their religion, and that Ireland could never doe well without a rebellion, to the end the 
remaine of the natives thereof might be extirpated ; and wagers were laid at gene- 
ral assizes and public meetings, by some of them then, and now employed in places 
of greate profitt and trust in this kingdome, that within one ycare no catholique 
should be left in Ireland, and that they saw the ancient and unquestionable privi- 
leges of the parliament of Ireland unjustly and against law encroached uppon, by the 
orders, acts, and proceedings by both houses of parliament in England, in sending 
for and questioning, to, and in that parliament, the members of the parliament of 
this kingdome, sitting the parliament here ; and that by speeches and orders printed 
by authoritie of both houses in England, it was declared that Ireland was bound by 
the statutes made in England, if named ; which is contrary to the knowen truth and 
the laws here settled for foure hundred yeares and upwards : and that the said 
catholiques were thoroughly enformcd of the protestation made by both houses of 
parliament of England against catholiques, and of their intention to introduce 
lawes for the extirpation of catholique religion in the three kingdomes, and that 
they had certain notice of the bloody execution of priests there, only for being 
priests, and that your majestie's mercy and power could not prevaile with them to 
save the lyfe of one condemned priest. And that the catholiques of England being 
of their owne flesh and blood, must sutfer or depart the land, and consequently 
others of not so neere a relation to them, if bound by their statutes, and within 
their power. These motives, although very strong and powerful to produce appre- 
hensions and feares in the said catholiques, did not prevail with them to take de- 
fensive armes, much less oflensive, they still expecting that your majestic in your 
high wisdome might be able in a short tyme, to apply seasonable cures and apt re- 
medies unto those evills and innovations. 

" 7th. That the committees of the lords and commons of this kingdome, having 
attended your majestic for the space of nyne months, your majesty was graciously 
pleased, notwithstandinsc your then weightic and urgent all'airs in England and 
Scotland, to receive, and very often with very great patience, to hear their grievances, 
and many debates thereof at large, during which debates, the said lords justices, 
and some of your privy councill of this kingdome, and their adherents, by the 
malitious and untrue informations, conveyed to some ministers of state in England, 
(who since are declared of the malignant partie,) and by their continuall solicitation 
of others of the said privy councill gone to England of the purpose to cross and give 
impediment unto the justice and grace your majestic was inclined to alford to your 
subjects of this realme, did, as much as in them lay, hinder the obtayning of any 
redress for the said grievances, and not prevailing therein with your majestic, as 
they expected, have by their letters and instruments, laboured with many leading 
members of the parliament there to give stopp and interruption thereunto ; and 
likewise transmitted unto your majestic and some of the state of England, sundery 
misconstructions and misrepresentations of the proceedings and actions of your 
parliament of this kingdome, and thereby endeavoured to possess your majestic with 
an evill opinion thereof; and that the said parliament had no power of judicature 
in capitall causes, (which is an essentiall part of parliament) thereby aymeing at 
the importunitie of some of them, and others who were then impeached of high trea- 
son, and at the destruction of this parliament; but the said lords justices and privie 
councell observeing that no art or practice of theirs could be powerfuU to withdraw 
youre majestie's grace and good intentions from his people, and that the redress 
graunted of some particular grievances waste be passed as acts of parliament; the said 
lords justices and adherents, with the height of malice, envieing the good union 
long before settled, and continued between the members of the house of commons, 
and their good correspondence with the lords, left nothing unattempted, which 
might rayse discord and disunion in the said house, and by some of themselves and 
some instruments of theirs in the commons house, private meetings of greate 



APPENDIX. 453 

numbers of the said house were appointed, of purpose to rayse distinction of nation 
and religion by meanes whereof a faction was made there which tended much to 
the disquiet of the house, and disturbance to your majestie's and the publique ser- 
vice ; and after certain knowledge that the said committees were by the water side 
in England with sundry important and beneficial bills, and other graces to be 
passed, as acts in that parliament, of purpose to prevent the same, the said faction, 
by the practise of the said lords justices, and some of the said privy counciil and 
their adherents, in a tumultuous and disorderly manner on the seventh day of August 
1641, and on several days before, cryed out for an adjournment of the house and 
beinge over voted by the voices of the more moderate partie, the said lords justices 
and their adherents told several honourable peers that if they did not adjourne the 
lords house on that day, being Saturday, that they themselves would prorogue or 
adjourn the parliament on the next Monday following, by means whereof, and of 
great numbers of proxies of noblemen, not estated, nor at any tyme resident in 
this kingdome (which is destructive to the libertj^e and freedom of parliaments 
here,) the lords house was on the said seventh day of August adjourned, and the 
house of commons by occasion thereof, and of the faction aforesaid, adjourned soon 
after ; by which means those bills and graces according to your majesties inten- 
tion and the great expectation and longing desires of your people could not then 
pass as acts of parliament. 

" Within few dayes after this fatall and enforced adjournment, the said com- 
mittees arrived at Dublin with their dispatch from your majestic and presented the 
same to the said lords justices and counciil, expressing a right sence of the said ad- 
journment, and besought their lordships, for the satisfaction of the people, to require 
short heads of that part of the dispatch wherein your majestic did appeare in the best 
manner unto your people, might be suddenely conveyed unto all the partes of the 
kingdom, attested by the said lords justices to prevent despaire or misunderstanding. 
This was promised to be done, and an instrument drawen and presented unto them 
for this purpose, and yet, as it seems desiring rather to add fuell to the fire of 
the subjects discontents than quench the same, they did forbare to give any notice 
thereof to the people. 

8th. After this, certain dangerous and pernitious petitions contrived by the advice 
and councell of the said Sir Wm. Parsons, Sir Adam Loftus, Sir John Clotworthy, 
knights, Arthur Hill, Esq., and sundry other of the malignant partie, and signed by 
many thousands of the malignant partie in the citty of Dublin, in the province of 
Ulster, and in sundry other of the partes in this kingdome, directed to the commons 
house in England, were at publique assizes and other publique places made known 
and read to many persons of qualitie in this kingdome, which petitions contayned 
matters destructive to the said catholiques, their religion, lives, and estates, and were 
the more to be feared by reason of the active power of the said Sir John Clotworthy 
in the commons house in England, in opposition to your majestic and his barbarous 
and inhumane expressions in the house against catholique religion and the possessors 
thereof; soon after, an order conceaved in the commons house in England, that 
no man should bowe unto the name of Jesus (att the sacred sound all knees 
should bend,) came to the knowledge of the said catholiques, and that the said ma- 
lignant partie did contrive and plott to extinguish their religion and nation. Hence 
it did arise that Sfime of the said Catholiques begun to consider the deplorable and 
desperate conditione they were in by a statute law here found amongst the records of 
this kingdome of the second yeare of the reigne of the late Queen Elizabeth : but 
never executed in her tyme, nor discovered till most of the members of that parlia- 
ment were dead, by which no catholique of this kingdome could enjoy his life, estate, 
or lyberty, if the said statute were executed : whereunto no impediment remayned but 
your majesties prerogative and power which were endeavoured to be clipped or taken 
away, as before has been rehearsed ; then the plott of destruction by an^army out of 
Scotland, and another of the malignant partie in England must be executed ; the 
feares of those twofold destructions and their ardent desire to mainetaine that just 
prerogative which might encounter and remove it, did necessitate some catholiques 
in the North about the 22d of October, 1641, to take armes in maintenance of their 
religion, your majestie's rights, and the preservation of life, estate, and libertie, and 
immediately thereuppon tooke a solemn oath, and sent several declarations to the 
lords justices and counciil to that effect; and humbly desired they might be heard 
in parliament, unto the determination whereof, they were ready to submit themselves 
and their demands : which declarations being received were slighted by the said 

57 



454 VINDICI^ HIBERNICiE. 

lords justices, who by the swaying part of the said councill, and by the advice of 
the said two impeaclaed judges, glad of any occasion to put off the parliament, which 
by the former adjournment was to meete soone after, caused a proclamation to be 
published on the "23d of the said month of October 1641, therein accusing all the 
catholiqucs of Ireland of disloyaltie, and thereby declaring that the parliament was 
prorogued until the 26th of February following. 

"9th. Within few dayes after the said 23d October, 1641, many lords and 
other persons of ranke and qualitie made their humble address to the said lords jus- 
tices and councill, and made it evidently appeare to them that the said prorogation 
was against law, and humbly besought the parliament might sit according to the 
former adjournment which was then the only expedient to compose or remove the 
then growing discontents and troubles of the land, and the said lords justices and 
their partie of the councill then well knowing that the members of both houses 
throughout the kingdome (a few in and about Dublin only excepted,) would stay 
from the meeting of both houses by reason of the said prorogation did by proclamation 
two dayes before the time, give way the parliament might sitt, but so limitted, that 
no act of grace or any thing else for the people's quiet or satisfaction, might be 
propounded and passed. And thereuppon a few of the lords and commons appeared in 
the parliament house, who at the 'entrance of the castle bridge and gate, and within 
the yardc to the parliament house doore, and recess from thence, were environed with a 
greate number of armed men with their matches lighted, and muskets presented 
even at the breasts of the members of both houses, none being permitted to bring 
one servant to attend him or any weapon about him within the castle bridge ; yet 
how then soever the houses were or how much overawed, they both did supplicate 
the lords justices and councill that they might continue for a tyme together, and 
expect the comeing of the rest of both houses, to the end that they might quiet the 
troubles in full parliament, and that some acts of securitie graunted by your ma- 
jestic, and transmitted under the great scale of England, might pass to settle the 
minds of your majesties subjects ; but to these requests, soe much conduceing to your 
niajestie's service, and settlement of your people, a flatt denyall was given, and the 
said lords justices, and partie of the councill, by their working with their 
partie in both houses of parliament, being very thyn as aforesaid, propounded 
an order should be conceavcd in parliament, that the said discontented gentlemen 
tooke amies in rebellious manner, which was resented much by the best affected of 
both houses ; but being awed as aforesaid, and credibly informed if some particular 
persons amongst them stood in opposition thereunto, that the said musketteeres were 
directed to shoote them att their going out of the parliament house, through which 
terror, way was given to that oi-der. 

" 10th. Notwithstanding all the before mentioned provocations, pressures and 
indignities, the farr greater and more considerable parte of the catholiqiies and all 
cittyes and corporations of Ireland, ar.d whole provinces, stood quiet in their houses; 
whereupon the lords justices and their adherents, well knowing that many powerful! 
members of parliament in England stood in opposition to 3'our majestic, made 
their application and addressed their dispatches, full fraught with calumnies and 
false suggestions against the catholiques of this kingdome; and propounded unto 
them, to send several great forces to conquer this khigdome ; those of the malig- 
nant partie here were by them armed ; the catholiques were not only denied armes, 
but were disarmed, even in the citty of Dublin ; which, in all succession of ages 
past, continued as loyall to the crowne of England as any citty or place whatsoever. 
All other auncient and loyall cittys and corporate towns of the kingdome (by means 
whereof principally the kingdome, was preserved in former tymes) were denyed 
armes for their money, to defend themselves, and express order given by the said 
lords justices, to disarme all catholiques in some of the said cittyes and townes ; 
others disfurnished, were inhibited to provide armes for their defence; and the said 
lords justices and councill, having received an order of both houses of parliament in 
England, to publish a proclamation of parliament of pardon unto all those who were 
then in rebellion (as they termed it) in this kingdome, if they did submit by a day 
limitted, the said Sir William Parsons, contrary to this order, soe wrought with his 
partie of the councill, that a proclamation was published of pardon only in two 
countyes and a very short day prefixed, and therein all freeholders were excepted, 
through which every man saw that the estates of the catholiques were first aymed 
att and their lives next. The said lords justices and. their partie having advanced 
their designc thus far, and not finding the success answerable to their desires, com- 



APPENDIX. 455 

manded Sir Charles Ooote, knight and baronet, deceased, to march to the county 
of Wicklow, where he burnt, killed, and destroyed all in'his way, in a most cruel- 
manner, man, woman and childe, persons that had not appearingly wills to do hurt, 
nor power to execute it. Soone after some foote companies did march in the night, 
by direction of the said lords justices, and their said partie, to the towne of Sauntry 
in Fingall, three miles ofl' Dublin ; a country that neither then, nor for the space of 
four or five hundred yeares before, did feele what troubles were or war meant ; but 
it was too sweet and too near, and therefore fit to be forced to amies. In that 
towne innocent husbandmen, some of them being catholiques, and some protestants, 
taken for catholiques, were murdered in their inn, and their heads carryed tryum- 
phant into Dublin. Next morning complaynt being made of this, no redress was 
obtayned therein ; whereupon some gentlemen of qualitie and others, the inhabit- 
ants of the country, seeing what was then acted and what passed in the said last 
march towards the county of Wicklow, and justly fearing all to be murthered, 
forsook their houses, and were constrayned to stand together in their own defence, 
though ill provided with amies and ammunition. Hereupon a proclamation was agreed 
uppon at the board on the 13th of December 1641, and not published or printed till 
the 15th of December, by which the said gentlemen and George Kinge by name, 
were required to come in by or upon the IStli of the same month, and safetie was 
therein promised them. On the same day another proclamation was published, 
summoning the lords dwelling in the English pale near Dublin, to a grand councill 
on the 17th of the said month; but the lords justices and their partie of the 
councill, to take away all hopes of accommodation, gave direction to the said Sir 
Charles Coote, the said 1.5th day of the said month of December, to march to Clontarffe, 
being the howse and towne of the said George Kinge, and two miles from Dublin, 
to pillage, burne, kill, and destroy all that was there to be found ; which direction 
was readily and particularly observed, (in a manifest breach of publick faith) by 
means whereof the meeting of the said grand councill was diverted ; the lords 
not daring to come within the power of such notorious faith breakers; the conside- 
ration whereof, and of other the matters aforesaid, made the nobilitie and gentry of 
the English pale, and other parts of the province of Leinster, sensible of the pre- 
sent danger and put themselves in the best posture they could for their nalurall de- 
fence, wherefore they employed Lieutenant Collonel Read to present their humble re- 
monstrance to your sacred majestic, and to declare unto you the state of their affayres, 
and humbly to beseech relief and redress : the said lieutenant collonel, though 
your niajestie's servant, and employed in public trust, (in which case the law of 
nations affords safety and protection) was without regard to either, not only stopped 
from proceeding in his employment, but also tortured on the rack at Dublin. 

" 11th. The lord president of Munster, by direction of the said lords justices, (that 
province being quiet,) with his accomplices, burnt, preyed, and put to death men, 
women and children, without making any difference of qualitie, condition, age, or 
sex in several parts of that province, the catholique nobles and gentlemen there were 
mistrusted and threatened, and others of inferior qualitie trusted and furnished with 
armes and ammunition. The province of Connaught was used in the like measure : 
whereupon most of the considerable catholiques in both the said provinces, were 
inforced (without armes and ammunition) to look after their safety, and to that end 
did stand on their defence, still expecting your majesties pleasure, and always ready 
to obey your commands. Now the plott of the said ministers of state and their 
adherents being even ripe, applications were incessantly by them made to the malignant 
partie in England, to deprive this people of all hopes of your majesties justice or 
mercie, and to plant a perpetual enmity between the English and Scottish nations, 
and your subjects of this kingdome. 

" 12th. That whereas this your majesties kingdome of Ireland in all succession of 
ages, since the raigne of King Henry the Second, sometime king of England and 
lord of Ireland, had parliaments of their owne, composed of lords and commons, in 
the same manner and forme, qualified with equal liberties, powers, privileges, and 
immunities with the parliament of England, and onely depend of the king and 
crowne of England and Ireland, and for all that time, no prevalent record or au- 
thentic precedent can be found, that any statute made in England could or did bind 
this kingdome before the same were here established by parliament : yet upon untrue 
suggestions and informations given of your subjects of Ireliivid, an act of parlia- 
ment, entitled an act for the speedie and effectual reducing the rebels in his majes- 
ties kingdome of Ireland, to their due obedience to his majestie and the crowne of 



456 VmDlCI^ HIBERNIC.E. 

of England ; and another act entitled an acta for adding unto and explayning the 
said former act, was procured to be enacted in the said parliament of England, in 
the eighteenth yeare of your majesties reign, by which acts and other proclamations 
your majesty's subjects unsummoned, unheard, were declared rebells, and two mil- 
lions and a half of acres of arable meadow, and profitable pasture, within this 
kingdom sold to undertakers for certair.e summcs of monie, and the edifices, loghs, 
woodes, and bogges, wastes and other appurtenances, were thereby mentioned to 
be granted and passed gratis, which acts the said catholiques doe conceave to have 
been forced uppon your majestic, and although void and unjust in themselves to all 
purposes, yet contain matters of evil consequences and extreme prejudice to your 
majesty, and totally destructive to this nation. The scope seeming to aime at 
rebells only, and at the disposition of a certainc quantitie of land, but in efiect and 
substance, all the lands in the kingdome, by the words of the said acts, may ^e 
distributed, in whose possession soever they were, without respect to age, condition 
or qualitie, and all your majesties tenures, and the greatest part of your majesties 
standing revenue in this kingdome, taken away : and by the said acts, if they were 
of force, all power of pardoning and of granting those lauds, is taken from your 
majesty. A president, that no age can instance the like. Against this act the 
catholiques do protest, as an act against the fundamental lawes of this kingdome, 
and as an act destructive to your majesties rights and prerogatives, by colour whereof, 
most of the forces sent hither to infest this kingdome by sea and land, disa- 
vowed any aulhoritie from your raajestie, but to depend upon the parliament of 
England. 

" 13lh. All strangers, and such as were not inhabitants of the citty of Dublin, 
being commanded by the said lords justices in and since the said month of Novem- 
ber, 1041, to depart the said city, were no sooner departed, than they were, by the 
directions of the said lords justices, pillaged abroad, and their goods seized uppon 
and confiscated in Dublin, and they desireing to return under the protection and 
safetie of the state, before their appearance in action, were denied the same, and 
divers other persons of rank and qualitie, by the said lords justices employed in 
publique service, and others keeping close within their doores, without annoying 
any man, or siding them with any of the said catholiques in armes, and others in 
severall parts of the kingdome living under, and having the protection and safety 
of the state, were soon pillaged and their howses burnt ; themselves, their tenants, 
and servants killed and destroyed, and that by the open direction of the said lords 
justices; and by the like direction, when any commander in chiefe of the army, 
promised or gave quarter or protection, the same was in all cases violated, and 
many persons of qualitie, who obtained the same, were ruined before others ; others, 
that came into Dublin voluntarily, and that could not be justly suspected of any 
crime, if Irishmen or catholiques, by the like direction were pillaged in Dublin, 
robbed and pillaged abroad, and brought to their tryall for their lives. The citties 
of Dublin and Cork, and the ancient corporate townes of Drogheda, Yeoghal, and 
Kingsale, who voluntary received garrisons in your majestie's name, and the adja- 
cent countryes, who relieved them, were worse used ; and now live in worse condi- 
tion, than the Israelites did in Egypt; so that it will be made appear, that more 
murders, breaches of publique faith and quarter, more destruction and desolation, 
more cruelty, not fit to be named, were committed in Ireland, by the direction and 
advice of the said lords justices and their partie of the said councill, in less than 
eighteene months, than can be paralleled to have been done by any Christian 
people. 

" 14th. The said lords justices and their adherents have against the fundamental 
lawes of the lande, procured the sitting of both houses of parliament for several 
sessions (nine parts of ten of the naturall and genuine members thereof being ab- 
sent, it standing not with their safety to come under their power), and made up a 
considerable number in the house of commons of clerks, soldiers, serveing men, 
and others, not legally or not chosen at all or returned, and haveing no manner of 
estate in the kingdome, m which sitting sundry orders were conceived, and dis- 
misses obtayned of persons before impeached of treason in full parliament, or which 
passed, or might have passed some acts against law, and to the prejudice of your 
majestic, and this whole nation. And during these troubles, terms were kept, and 
your majestie's court of cheefe place, and other courts sat at Dublin, to no other 
end or purpose, but by false and illegal judgments, outlawries, and other capital 
proceedings, to attaint many thousands of your majestie's most faithfull subjects of 



APPENDIX. 457 

this kingdome ; they being never summoned nor haveing notice of those proceed- 
ings, and sheriffs made of obscure and mcane persons, by the like practice appointed 
of purpose ; and poor artificers, common soldiers, and menial servants, returned 
jurors, to pass upon the lives and estates of those, who came in upon protection and 
publique faith. 

" Therefore the said catholiques, in the behalfe of themselves and of the whole 
kingdome of Ireland, doe protest and declare against the said proceedings, in the 
nature of parliaments, and in the other courts aforesaid, and every of them, as being 
heynous crimes against law, destructive to parliaments and your majestie's prero- 
gative and authoritie, and the rights and just liberties of your most faithfull 
subjects. 

" Forasmuch, dread sovereigne, as the speedy application of apt remedies unto 
these grievancies and heavie pressures, will tend to the settlement and improvement 
of your majestie's revenue, the prevention of further effusion of blood, the preser- 
vation of this kingdome, from desolation, and the content and satisfaction of your 
said subjects, who, in manifestation of their duty and zeal to your majesty's service, 
will be most willing and ready to employ ten thousand men under the conduct of 
well experienced commanders, in defence of your royal rights and prerogatives, they 
therefore most humbly beseech your majestic, that you will vouchsafe gracious an- 
swers to these their liumble and just complaynts, and for the establishment of your 
people in a lasting peace and securitie, the said catholiques doe most humbly pray, 
that your majestic may be further gratiously pleased to call a free parliament in this 
kingdome in such convenient tyme, as your majestic in your high wisdome shall 
think fitt, and urgencie of the present affairs of the saide kingdome doth require, 
and that the said parliament be held in a different place, summoned bye and conti- 
nued before some person or persons of honour and fortune, of approved faithe to 
your majestic, and acceptable to your people here ; and to be tymely placed by 
your majestic in this government, which is most necessary for the advancement of 
your service and present condition of the kingdome, in which parliament the said 
catholiques doe humbly pray, these or other grievances may be redressed, and that 
in the said parliament a statute made in this kingdome in the tenth yeare of King 
Henry the Seventh, commonly called Poyning's, and all acts explayneing, or en- 
largeing the same, be by a particular act suspended during that parliament, as it 
hath been already done in the eleventh year of Queen Elizabeth, upon occasions of 
far less moment, than now doe offer themselves : and that your majestic, with the 
advice of the said parliament, will be pleased to take a course for the further repeal- 
ing, or further continuance of the said statutes, as may best conduce to the advance- 
ment of your service here, and peace of this your realme, and that no matter 
whereof complaint is made in this remonstrance, may debar catholiques, or give 
interruption to their free votes, or sitting in the said parliament ; and as in duty 
bound they will ever pray for your majestie's long and prosperous reigne over 
them. 

" Wee the undernamed being thereunto authorized, doe present and signe this 
remonstrance in the behalfe of the catholiques of Ireland, dated this 17th day of 
March, 1642. 

" GonMANSToir, Lucas Dilloic, 

Robert Talbott, John Walsh. 

" According to your majestie's commission to us directed, we have received this 
remonstrance, subscribed by the Lord Viscount Gormanston, Sir Lucas Dillon, 
knight. Sir Robert Talbott, hart, and John Walsh, Esq. authorized by, and in the 
behalfe of the recusants of Ireland, to present the same unto us, to be transmitted 
to your sacred majesty, dated the 17th day of March, 1643. 

"Clanrikard and St. Albans, Roscommon, 
MooHE, Mau. Eustace." 



458 VINDICLE HIBERNIC^. 

In pp. 374 and 380, are given the terms on which Limerick (which 
had been long besieged in vain) was surfendered to General Ginkle, the 
commander of King William's forces — and also the names of the in- 
dependent and honourable members of the house of lords who pro- 
tested against the piratical violation of those articles. As a proper 
sequence, I annex the strong plea offered by Sir Theobald Butler, 
before the house of commons, against the atrocious " act to prevent 
the further growth of popery," by which these articles were com- 
pletely and perfidiously nullified. 

Sir Theobald stated that, " ' By the permission of that Iiouse, he was come 
thither in behalf of himself, and the rest of the Eoman catholicks of Ireland coi* 
prised in the articles of Limerick and Galway, to offer some reasons, which he and 
the rest of the petitioners judged very material against passing the bill, intituled, 
an Act to prevent the further growth of popery ; that by leave of the house, he 
had taken a copy of the said bill, (which he had there in his hand,) and with sub- 
mission, looked upon it to tend to the destroying of the said articles, granted upon 
a most valuable consideration, of surrendering the said garrisons, at the time when 
they had the sword in their hands, and for any thing that then appeared to the 
contrary, might have l)een in a condition to hold out much longer, and when it 
was in their power to demand, and make for themselves such terms, as might be 
for their then and future liberty, safety and security : and that too, when the allow- 
ing such terms were highly advantageous to the government to which they submit- 
ted, as well for uniting the people that were then divided, quieting and settling the 
distractions and disorders of this then miserable kingdom, as for the other advan- 
tages the government would thereby reap in its own affairs, both at home and 
abroad ; when its enemies were so powerful both by sea and land, as to give doubt 
or interruption to its peace and settlement. 

" ' That by such their power, those of Limerick did for themselves, and others 
therein comprized, obtain and make such articles, as by which, all the Irish inha- 
bitants in the city and county of Limerick, and in the counties of (Jlare, Kerry, 
Cork, Sligo, and Mayo, had full and free pardon of and for all attainders, oulaw- 
ries, treasons, misprision of treasons, felonies, trespasses, and other crimes what- 
ever, which at any time from the beginning of King James the Second, to the 3d 
of October, 1G91, had been acted, committed, or done by them, or any of them ; 
and by which they and their heirs were to be forthwith put in possession of, and 
for ever possess, and enjoy all and every of their freeholds and inheritance ; and all 
their rights, titles, and interests, privileges and immunities, which they and every 
of them held and enjoyed, and by the laws in force were intituled unto, in the reign 
of King Charles the Second, or at any time since, by the laws and statutes that 
were in force in that reign, &c. And therefore read so much of the second article 
of Limerick, as tended to that purpose.' " That in the reign of Charles the Se- 
cond, the petitioners, and all that were intituled to the benefit of those articles, 
were in such full and free possession of their estates, and had the same power to 
sell, or otherwise to dispose, or convey them, or any thing they enjoyed ; and were 
as rightfully intituled to all the privileges, immunities, and other advantages what- 
ever, according to the laws then in force, as any other subjects whatsoever ; and 
which, therefore, without the highest injustice, could not be taken from them, unless 
they had forfeited them themselves. 

" ' That if they had made any such forfeiture, it was either before or after the 
making the said articles: if before, they had a full and free pardon for that by the 
said articles, &c., and therefore are not accountable by any law now in force for the 
same, and for that reason not now to be charged with it ; and since they cannot be 
charged with any general forfeiture of those articles since, they at that same time 
remained as absolutely intituled to all the privileges, advantages, and benefits of the 
laws both already made, and hereafter to be made, as any other of her majesty's 
subjects whatsoever. 

" ' That among all societies there were some ill people : that by the 10th article of 
Limerick, the whole community is not to be charged with, nor forfeited by the 
crimes of particular persons. 

" ' That there were already wholesome laws in force sufficient, and if not, such 



APPENDIX. 459 

as were wanting might be made, to punish every offender according to the nature 
of the crime : and in the name of God let the guihy suffer for their own fauUs ; but 
the innocent ought not to suffer for the guihy, nor ihe whole for any particular. 
That surely they would not now (they had tamely got the sword out of their hands,) 
rob them of what was then in their power to have kept ; for that would be unjust, 
and not according to that golden rule, to do as they would be done by, was the case 
reversed, and the contrary side their own. 

" ' That the said articles were first granted them by the general of the English 
army, upon the most important consideration of getting the city of Limerick into 
his hands, (when it was in a condition to have held out, till it might have been 
relieved by the succours then coming to it from France), and for preventing the 
further effusion of blood, and the other ill consequences which (by reason of the 
then divisions and disorders) the nation then laboured under, and for reducing those 
in arms against the English government, to its obedience. 

" ' That the said articles were signed and perfected by the said generals, and the 
then lords justices of this kingdom, and afterwards ratified by their late majesties, 
for themselves, their heirs and successors, and have been since confirmed by an act 
of parliament in this kingdom, viz. stat. 9. Guil. 3. ses. 4. chap. 27. (which he there 
produced and pleaded) and said could not be avoided without breaking the said arti- 
cles, and the public faith thereby plighted to all those comprised under the said 
articles, in the most solemn and engaging manner, 'tis possible for any people to 
lay themselves under, and than which nothing could be more sacred and binding. 
That therefore to violate, or break those articles, would on the contrary be the 
greatest injustice possible for any one people of the whole world to inflict upon an- 
other, and which is contrary to both the laws of God and man. 

" ' That pursuant to these articles, all tbose Irish then in arms against the govern- 
ment, did submit thereunto, and surrendered the said city of Limerick, and all 
other garrisons then remaining in their possession, and did take such oaths of fide- 
lity to the king and queen, <&c. as by the said articles they were obliged to, and 
were put into possession of their estates, &c. 

" ' That such their submission was upon such terms as ought now, and at all 
times, to be made good to them ; but that if the bill then before the house, intituled, 
an Act to prevent the further growth of popery, should pass into a law, (which said 
he, God forbid !) it would be not only a violation of those articles, but also a mani- 
fest breach of the public faith, of which the English had always been most tender 
in many instances, some of which he then quoted ; and that, in particular, in the 
preamble of the act before-mentioned, made for confirmation of these articles, wherein 
there is a particular regard and respect had to the public faith. 

" ' That since the said articles were thus under the most solemn tics, and for such 
valuable considerations granted the petitioners, by nothing less than the general of 
the army, the lords justices of the kingdom, the king, queen, and parliament, the 
public faith of the nation was therein concerned, obliged, bound, and engaged, as 
fully and firmly, as was possible for one people to pledge faith to another ; that 
therefore this parliament could not pass such a bill, as that intituled, an Act to 
prevent the further growth of popery, then before the house, into a law, without 
infringing those articles, and a manifest breach of the public faith ; of which he 
hoped that house would be no less regardful and tender than their predecessors, 
who made the act for confirming those articles, had been. 

" ' That the case of the Gibeonites, 2 Sam. 21.1. was a fearful example of break- 
ing of public faith, which above 100 years after brought nothing less than a three 
year's famine upon the land ; and stayed not till the lives of all Saul's family atoned 
for it. 

" ' That even among the heathens, and most barbarous of nations, all the world 
over, the public faith had always been held most sacred and binding, that surely it 
would find no less a regard in that august assembly. 

" ' That if he proved the passing that act, was such a manifest breach of those 
articles, and consequently of the public faith, he hoped that honourable house would 
be very tender how they passed the said bill before them into a law, to the apparent 
prejudice of the petitioners, and the hazard of bringing upon themselves and pos- 
terity, such evils, reproach and infamy, as the doing the like had brought upon 
other nations and people. 

" ' Now, that the passing such a bill as that then before the house, to prevent the 



460 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

further growth of popery, will be a breach of those articles, and consequently of the 
public faith, I prove (said he) by the following argument. 

" ' The argument then is, (said he) whatever shall be enacted to the prejudice or 
destroying of any obligation, covenant or contract, in the most solemn manner, and 
for the most valuable consideration entered into, is a manifest violation and destruc- 
tion of every such obligation, covenant and contract : but the passing that bill into 
a law, will evidently and absolutely destroy the articles of Limerick and Galway, to 
all intents and purposes ; and therefore the passing that bill into a law, will be such 
a breach of those articles, and consequently of the public faith pUghted for perform- 
ing those articles, which remain to be proved. 

" ' The major is proved ; (said he) for whatever destroys or violates any contract 
or obligation, upon the most valuable considerations, most solemnly made and en- 
tered into, destroys and violates the end of every such contract or obligation : but 
the end and design of those articles were, that all those therein comprised, and 
every of their heirs, should hold, possess, and enjoy all and every of their estates 
of freehold and inheritance, and all the rights, titles, and interest, privileges and 
immunities, which they and every of them held, enjoyed, or were rightfully inti- 
tuled to, in the reign of King Charles the Second, or at any time since, by the 
laws and statutes that were in force in the said reign in this realm : but that the 
design of this bill was, to take away every such right, title, interest, &c. from 
every father being a papist, and to make the popish father, who, by the articles and 
laws aforesaid, had an undoubted right, either to sell, or otherwise at pleasure to 
dispose of his estate, at any time of his life, as he thought fit, only tenant for life, 
and consequently disabled from selling, or otherwise disposing thereof, after his son 
or other heir should become protestant, though otherwise never so disobedient, 
profligate, or extravagant : ergo, this act tends to the destroying the end for which 
those articles were made, and consequently the breaking of the public faith plighted 
for their performance. 

" ' The jrtjHo;- is proved by the 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8tli, 9th, 15th, 16th, and 
17th clauses of the said bill, all which (said he) I shall consider and speak to, in 
the order as they are placed in the bill. 

" By the first of these clauses, (which is the third of the bill) I that am the 
popish father, without committing any crime against the state, or the laws of the 
land, (by which only I ought to be governed,) or any other fault ; but merely for 
being of the religion of my fore-fathers, and that which, till of late years, was the 
ancient religion of these kingdoms, contrary to the express words of the second 
article of Limerick, and the public faith, plighted as aforesaid for their performance, 
am deprived of my inheritance, freehold, &c. and of all other advantages, which 
by those articles, and the laws of the land, I am intituled to enjoy, equally with 
every other of my fellow-subjects, whether protestant or popish. And though such 
my estate be even the purchase of my own hard Iabo«r and industry, yet I shall not 
(though ray occasions be never so pressing,) have liberty (after my eldest son, or 
other heir, becomes a protestant,) to sell, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of, or 
charge it for payment of my debts ; or have leave out of my own estate, to order 
portions for my other children ; or leave a legacy, though never so small, to my 
poor father or mother, or other poor relations ; but during my own life, my estate 
shall be given to my son, or other heir, being a protestant, though never so undu- 
tiful, profligate, extravagant, or otherwise undeserving ; and I that am the purchasing 
father, shall become tenant for life only, to my own purchase, inheritance and free 
hold, which I purchased with my own money : and such my son, or other heir, 
by this act, shall be at liberty to .sell, or otherwise at pleasure to dispose of my 
estate, the sweat of my brow, before my face ; and I that am the purchaser, shall 
not have liberty to raise one farthing upon the estate of my own purchase, either to 
pay my debts, or portion my daughters, if any I have, or make provisions for my 
other male children, though never so deserving and dutiful : but my estate, and 
the issues and profits of it, shall, before my face, be at the disposal of another, who 
cannot possibly know how to distinguish between the dutiful and undutiful, deserv- 
ing or undeserving. Is not this, gentlemen, (said he) a hard case 1 I beseech 
you, gentlemen, to consider, whether you would not think it so, if the scale was 
changed, and the case your own, as it is like to be ours, if this bill pass into a 
law. 

" ' It is natural for a father to love the child, but we all know (says he) that 
children are but too apt and subject, without any such liberty as this bill gives, to 



APPENDIX. 461 

slight and neglect their duty to their parents; and surely such an act as this, will 
not be an instrument of restraint, but rather encourage them more to it. 

" ' It is but too common with the son, who has a prospect of an estate, when 
once he arrives at the age of one-and-twenty, to think the old father too long in the 
way, between him and it, and how much more will he be subject to it, when by 
this act he shall have liberty before he comes to that age, to compel and force my 
estate from me, without asking my leave, or being liable to account with me for it, 
or out of his share thereof, to a moiety of the debts, portions, or other incum- 
brances, with which the estate might have been charged, before the passing this 
act. 

" ' Is not this against the laws of God and man 1 against the rules of reason and 
justice ; by which all men ought to be governed 1 Is not this the only way in the 
world, to make children become undutiful ] and to bring the gray head of the parent 
to the grave, with grief and tears. 

" ' It would be hard from any man ; but from a son, a child, the fruit of my body, 
whom I have nurst in my bosom, and tendered more dearly than my own life, to 
become my plunderer, to rob me of my estate, to cut my throat, and to take away 
my bread, is much more grievous than from any other ; and enough to make the 
most flinty of hearts to bleed, to think on't. And yet this will be the case, if this 
bill pass into a law ; which I hope this honourable assembly will not think of, when 
they shall more seriously consider, and have weighed these matters. 

" ' For God's sake, gentlemen, will you consider whether this is according to the 
golden rule, to do as you would be done unto 7 And if not, surely you will not, nay 
you cannot, without being liable to be charged with the most manifest injustice 
imaginable, take from us our birth-rights, and invest them in others before our 
faces. 

" ' By the 4th clause, of the bill, the popish father is under the penalty of 500/. 
debarred from being guardian to, or having the tuition or custody of his own child 
or children ; but if the child pretends to be a protestant, though never so young, or 
incapable of judging of the principles of any religion, it shall be taken from its own 
father, and put into the hands or care of a protestant relation, if any there be 
qualified as this act directs, for tuition, though never so great an enemy to the 
popish parent ; and for want of relations so qualified, into the hands and tuition of 
such protestant stranger, as the court of chancery shall think fit to appoint, who 
perhaps may likewise be my enemy, and out of prejudice to me who am the popish 
father, shall infuse into my child, not only such principles of religion, as are wholly 
inconsistent with my liking, but also against the duty which by the laws both of 
God and nature is due from every child to its parents ; and it shall not be in my 
power to remedy, or question him for it; and yet I shall be obliged to pay for such 
education, how pernicious soever. Nay, if a legacy or estate fall to any of my 
children, being minors, I that am the popish father shall not have the liberty to 
take care of it, but it shall be put into the hands of a stranger ; and though I see it 
confounded before my face, it shall not be in my power to help it. Is not this a 
hard case, gentlemen 1 I am sure you cannot but allow it to be a very hard 
case. 

" ♦ The 5th clause provides, that no protestant or protestants, having any estate 
real or personal, within this kingdom, shall at any time after the 24th of March, 
1703, intermarry with any papist, either in or out of this kingdom, under the pe- 
nalties in an act made in the 9th of King William, intituled, an act to prevent pro- 
testants intermarrying with papists, which penalties, see in the 5th clause of the act 
itself. 

" ' Surely, gentlemen, this is such a law as was never heard of before, and against 
the law of right, and the law of nations ; and therefore a law which is not in the 
power of mankind to make, without breaking through the laws which our wise 
ancestors prudently provided for the security of posterity, and which you cannot 
infringe, without hazarding the undermining the whole legislature, and encroaching 
upon the privileges of your neighbouring nations, which it is not reasonable to be- 
lieve they will allow. 

" ' It has indeed been known, that there hath been laws made in England, that 
have been bindmg in Ireland : but sure it never was known that any law made in 
Ireland could affect England or any other country. But by this act, a person com- 
mitting matrimony (an ordinance of the Almighty) in England, or any other part 
beyond the seas (where it is lawful both by the laws of God and man so to do,) if 

58 



46a VINDICIJD HIBERNICyE. 

ever they come to live in Irelaml, and liave an inheritance or title to any interest to 
the value of 500/. they shall be punished for a fact consonant to the laws of the 
land where it was committed. But, gentlemen, by your favour, this is what, with 
submission, is not in your power to do : for no law that either now is, or that here- 
after shall be in force in this kingdom, shall be able to take cognizance of any fact 
committed in another nation : nor can any one nation make laws for any other na- 
tion, but what is subordinate to it, as Ireland is to England ; but no other nation 
is subordinate to Ireland ; and therefore any laws made in Ireland cannot punish 
me for any fact committed in any other nation, but more especially England, to 
whom Iieland is subordinate : and the reason is, every free nation, such as all our 
neighbouring nations are, by the great law of nature, and the universal privileges 
of all nations, have an undoubted right to make, and be ruled and governed by 
laws of their own making ; for that to submit to any other, would be to give away 
their own birth-right, and native freedom ; and become subordinate to their neigh- 
bours, as we of this kingdom, since the making of Poynings's act, have been, and 
are to England ; a right which England would never so much as endure to hear of, 
much less to submit to. 

" ' We see how careful our forefathers have been to provide tliat no man should 
be punished in one county (even of the same nation) for crimes committed in an- 
other county ; and surely it would be highly unreasonable, and contrary to the lawrs 
of all nations in the whole world, to punish me in this kingdom, for a fact com- 
mitted in England, or any other nation, which was not against, but consistent with 
the laws of the nation, where it was committed. I am sure there is not any law in 
any other nation in the world that would do it. 

'"The 6lh clause of this bill is likewise a manifest breach of the second of Li- 
merick articles, for by that article, all persons comprized under those articles, were 
to enjoy, and have the full benefit of all the rights, titles, privileges, and immuni- 
ties whatsoever, which they enjoyed, or by the laws of the land then in force, were 
entitled to enjoy, in the reign of King Charles the Second. And by the laws then 
in force, all the papists of Ireland had the same liberty, that any of their fellow 
subjects had, to purchase any manors, lands, tenements, hereditaments, leases for 
lives or for years, rents, or any other thing of profit whatsoever: but by this clause 
of this bill, every papist or person professing the popish religion, after the 24th of 
March, 1703, is made incapable of purchasing any manors, lands, tenements, he- 
reditaments, or any rents or profits out of the same, or holding any lease of lives, 
or any other lease whatsoever, for any term exceeding thirty-one years, wherein a 
rent, not less than two-thirds of the improved yearly value, shall be reserved, and 
made payable during the whole term ; and therefore this clause of this bill, if made 
into a law, will be a manifest breach of those articles. 

" 'The 7th clause is yet of much more general consequence, and not only a like 
Jareach of those articles, but also manifest robbing of all the Roman catholicks of 
the kingdom of their birth-right : for by those articles, all those therein comprized 
were (said he) pardoned all misdemeanors whatsoever, of which they had in any 
manner of way been guilty, and restored to all the rights, liberties, privileges, and 
immunities whatever, which, by the laws of the land, and customs, constitutions, 
and native birth-right, they, any, and every of them, were, equally with every 
other of their fellow-subjects entitled unto. And by the laws of nature and nations 
(as well as by the laws of the land) every native of any country, has an undoubted 
right and just title to all the privileges and advantages, which such their native 
country aflTords : and surely no man but will allow, that by such a native right, 
every one born in any country, hath an undoubted right to the inheritance of his 
father, or any other to whom he or they may be heir at law : but if this bill pass 
into a law, every native of this kingdom, that is and shall remain a papist, is, ipso 
facto, during life, or his or their continuing a papist, deprived of such inheritance, 
devise, gift, remainder, or trust, of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, of 
which any protestant now is, or hereafter shall be seized in fee-simple absolute, or 
fee-tail, which by the death of such protestant, or his wife, ought to descend im-r 
mediately to his son or sons, or other issue in tail, being such papist, and eighteen 
years of age, or, if under that age, within six months after coming to that age, 
shall not conform to the church of Ireland, as by law established ; and every such 
devise, gift, remainder, or trust, which, according to the laws of the land, and 
such native right, ought to descend to such papist, shall, during the life of such 
papist (unless he forsake his religion), descend to the nearest relation that is a pro- 



APPENDIX, 463 

testant, and his heirs, being and continuing protestants, as though the said popish 
heir and all other popisli relations were dead, without being accountable for the 
same ; which is nothing less than robbing such popish heir of such his birth-right; 
for no other reason but his being and continuing of that religion, which, by the first 
of Limerick articles, the Roman catholicks of this kingdom were to enjoy, as they 
did in the reign of King Charles the Second ; and then there was no law in force, 
that deprived any Roman catholick of this kingdom of any such their native birth- 
right, or any other thing, which, by the laws of the land then in force, any other 
fellow-subjecls were entitled unto. 

" ' The 8th clause of this bill is to erect in this kingdom a law of gavel-kind, a 
law in itself so monstrous and strange, that I dure say, this is the first time it was 
ever heard of in the world ; a law so pernicious and destructive to the well-being of 
families and societies, that in an age or two, there will hardly be any remembrance 
of any of the ancient Roman catholick families known in this kingdom ; a law,, 
which, therefore, I may again venture to say, was never before known or heard of 
in the universe ! 

" ' There is, indeed, in Kent, a custom, called the custom of gavel-kind ; but I 
never heard of any law for it till now ; and that custom is far diflerent from what 
by this bill is intended to be made a law ; for there, and by that custom, the father, 
or other person, dying possessed of any estate of his own acquisition, or not entailed 
(let him be of what persuasion he will), may by will bequeath it at pleasure: or if 
he dies without will, the estate shall not be divided, if their be any male heir to 
inherit it; but for want of male heir, then it shall descend in gavel-kind among the 
daughters, and not otherwise. But b}' this act, for want of a protestant heir, en- 
rolled as such within three months after the death of such papist, to be divided, 
share and share alike, among all his sons ; for want of sons among his daughters ; 
for want of such, among the collateral kindred of his father ; and in want of such, 
among those of his mother; and this is to take place of any grant, settlement, &c, 
other than sale for valuable consideration of money, really, bona fide, paid. And 
shall I not call this a strange law ? Surely it is a strange law, which, contrary to 
the laws of all nations, thus confounds all settlements, how ancient soever, or 
otherwise warrantable by laws heretofore in force, in this or any other kingdom. 

'" The 9th clause of this act is another manifest breach of the articles of Lime- 
rick, for by the 9th of those articles, no oath is to be administered to, nor imposed 
upon such Roman catholicks, as should submit to the government, but by oath of 
allegiance, appointed by an act of parliament made in England, in the first year of 
the reign of their late majesties King William and Queen Mary, (which is the same 
with the first of those appointed by the 10th clause of this act :) but by this clause 
none shall have the benefit of this act, that shall not conform to the church of Ire- 
land, subscribe the declaration, and take and subscribe the oath of abjuration, ap- 
pointed by the 9th clause of this act ; and therefore this act is a manifest breach of 
those articles, &c. and a force upon all the Roman catholicks therein comprised, 
either to abjure their religion, or part with their birth-rights, which, by those arti- 
cles, they were, and are, as fully and rightfully entitled unto as any other subjects 
whatever. 

'"The 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th clauses of this bill (said he) relate to 
offices and employments, which the papists of Ireland cannot hope for the enjoy- 
ment of, otherwise than by gi-ace and favour extraordinary ; and therefore do not so 
much affect them, as it does the protestant dissenters, who (if this bill pass into a 
law) are equally with the papists deprived of bearing any office, civil or military, 
under the government, to which by right of birth, and the laws of the land, they 
are as indisputably entitled, as any other protestant brethren; and if what the Irish 
did in the late disorders of this kingdom, made them rebels, (which the presence of 
a king, they had before been obliged to own, and swear obedience to, give them a 
reasonable colour of concluding it did not), yet surely the dissenters did not do any 
thing to make them so ; or to deserve worse at the hands of the government, than 
other protestants ; but on the contrary, it is more than probable, that if they, (I 
mean the dissenters) had not put a stop to the career of the Irish army at Ennis- 
killen and Londonderry ; the settlement of the government, both in England and 
Scotland, might not have proved so easy, as it thereby did, for if that army had got 
to Scotland, (as there was nothing at that time to have hindered them, but the 
bravery of those people, who were mostly dissenters, and chargeable with no other 
crimes since ; unless their close adhering to, and early appearing for the then 



464 VINDICIiE HIBERNIC^. 

government, and the many faithful services they did their country, were crimes, I 
say (said he) if they had got, into Scotland, when they had boats, barks, and all 
things else ready for their transportation, and a great many friends there in arms 
waiting only their corning to join them, it is easy to think, what the consequence 
would have been to both these kingdoms ; and these dissenters were then thought 
fit for command, both civil and military, and were no less instrumental in contri- 
buting to the reducing the kingdom, than any other protestants : and to pass a bill 
now, to deprive them of their birth-rights, (for those their good services) would 
surely be a most unkind return, and the worst reward ever granted to a people, so 
deserving. Whatever the papists may be supposed to have deserved, the dissenters 
certainly stand as clean in the face of the present government, as any other people 
whatsoever ; and if this is all the return they are like to get, it will be but a 
slender encouragement, if ever occasion should require, for others to pursue thair 
examples. 

'"By the 15th, 16th, and 17th clauses, all papists, after the 24th of March, 
1703, are prohibited from purchasing any houses or tenements, or coming to dwell 
in Limerick or Galway, or the suburbs of either, and even such as were under the 
articles, and by virtue thereof, have ever since lived there, from staying there ; 
without giving such security as neither those articles, nor any law heretofore in 
force, do require, except seamen, fishermen, and day-labourers, who pay not above 
forty shillings a year rent, and from voting for the election of members of parlia- 
ment, unless they take the oath of abjuration, which, to oblige them to, is contrary 
to the 9th of Limerick articles, which as aforesaid, says the oath of allegiance, and 
no other shall be imposed upon them, and, unless they abjure their religion takes 
away their advowsons and rights of presentation, contrary to the piivilege of right, 
the laws of nations, and the great charter of Magna Charta ; which provides, that 
no man shall be desseized of his birth-right, without committing some crime against 
the known laws of the land in which he ie born, or inhabits. And if there was no 
law in force, in the reign of King Charles the Second, against these things (as there 
certainly was not), and if the Roman catholicks of this kingdom have not since 
forfeited their right to the laws that then were in force (as for certain they had not,) 
then with humble submission, all the aforesaid clauses and matters contained in this 
bill, intituled, an act to prevent the farther growth of popery, are directly against 
the plain words and true intent and meaning of the said articles, and a violation of 
the public faith, and the laws made for their performance ; and what I therefore hope 
(said he) this honourable house will consider accordingly.' 

" Counsellor Malone and Sir Stephen Rice, made discourses on the same side ; 
the latter, not as a counsel, but as a petitioner, likely to be aggrieved by the passing 
of the said act: but in the course of the reply to the arguments of those gentlemen, 
it was objected, that they had not demonstrated how and when (since the making 
of the article of Limerick) the papists of Ireland had addressed the queen or govern- 
ment, when all other subjects were so doing, or had otherwise declared their fidelity 
and obedience to the queen. 

" It was (among other things) observed, that by a proviso at the latter end of the 
second of those articles, none was to have or enjoy the benefit thereof, that should 
refuse to take the oath of allegiance. 

" That any right which the papists pretended to be taken from them by the bill, 
was in their power to remedy, by conforming ; as in prudence, they ought to do ; 
and that they ought not to blame any but themselves. 

"The next day the bill was ordered to be engrossed and sent to the lords. 
" The petitioners having applied to the lords also, for leave to be heard by their 
counsel against the bill, the same was granted, and the same counsel, upon Monday, 
February 2Sth, appeared there, and offered such-like arguments as they had made 
use of in the other house : they told their lordships, it had been objected by the 
commons, that the passing that bill would not be a breach of the articles of Lime- 
rick, as had been suggested ; because, the persons therein comprised were only to 
be put into the same state they were in the reign of Charles the Second, and be- 
cause, that in that reign there was no law in force which hindered the passing any 
other law thought needful for the future safety of the government. 

"That the commons had further sayed, that the passing this bill was needful at 
present, for the security of the kingdom, and that there was not any thing in the 
articles of Limerick that prohibited their so doing. 

" It was admitted, on the part of the petitioners, that the legislative power cannot 



APPENDIX. 465 

be confined from altering and making such laws as shall be thought necessary, for 
securing the quiet and safety of the government ; that in time of war or danger, or 
when there shall be just reason to suspect any ill designs to disturb the public peace, 
no articles or previous obligations, shall tie up the hands of the legislators from pro- 
viding for its safety, or bind the government from disarming and securing any, who 
may be reasonably suspected of favouring or corresponding with its enemies, or to 
be otherwise guilty of ill practices ; ' or indeed to enact any other law,' said Sir 
Stephen Rice, ' that may be absolutely needful for the safety and advantage of the 
public ; such a law cannot be a breach either of these, or any other like articles. 
But then such laws, ought to be in general, and should not single out, or affect, 
any one particular part or party of the people, who gave no provocation to any such 
law, and whose conduct stood hitherto unimpeached, ever since the ratification of 
the aforesaid articles of Limerick. To make any law that shall single any particu- 
lar part of the people out from the rest, and take from them what had been con- 
firmed to, and intailed upon them, will be an apparent violation of the original 
institution of all right, and an ill precedent, to any that hereafter might dislike 
either the present or any other settlement, which should be in their power to alter ; 
the consequence of which is hard to imagine.' 

" The lord chancellor having summed up all that had been oflTered at the bar, 
the house proceeded thereupon ; the bill was read through ; and to the great morti- 
fication of that unhappy party, was passed, and upon the 4th of March obtained 
the royal assent." 



Flagrant Forgery and Perjury, with a vietv to plunder the Irish 

Catholics. 

" A letter dated Nov. 18, 1661, and pretended to be written by a priest named James 
Dermot, to another priest called James Phelan, was sent from Thomas Ashe and 
other justices of the county ofMeath, by Stafford Lightborne, one of their number, 
in a letter of Dec. 7, to the lords justices. In this letter the writer is made to com- 
plain of the obstinacy of their enemies in not returning to the obedience of the 
holy see, and to tell his correspondent ' that they should soon have a full tolera- 
tion, for the king knew them to be his best friends ; that there were warrants to 
issue to seize upon all horses belonging to the Irish, and to search their houses for 
arms ; that they ought to be careful to preserve both, for the time of doing good 
was near at hand, and to free themselves from slavery ; that he should remember 
the gathering for the poor clergy newly come over ; that their meetings were very 
great at Dublin ; and that a great man sitting at the helm was their very good 
friend, and gave them intelligence of every thing.' This was the substance of the 
letter, a copy of which was produced and presented to the house of commons by 
Alexander Jephson of Trim, (one concerned not long after in the plot to surprize 
the castle of Dublin,) who pretended that he had found it while he was pursuing 
James Phelan ; but he making his escape, a book fell from him in which the said 
letter was found. This afforded a handle to Lord Colonny to move likewise in the 
house of lords, for their concurrence with the commons in the above mentioned 
resolutions. A proclamation was published and executed with great rigour; all 
artificers and shopkeepers, who were left in their habitations by the usurpers at the 
time of the transportation, were now banished from Kilkenny, and other great 
towns ; horses and arms^being no where else to be found, were sought for in trunks 
and cabinets, and silver cups were defined to be chalices. The letter was trans- 
mitted into England, with a representation of the insolency of the papists, for whose 
suppression, in order to prevent the threatened danger, his majesty's directions were 
desired. 

" It had been a common artifice [as already stated,] just after the king's re- 
storation, to drop such letters in the streets and highways, in order to render the 
Irish odious. The Lord Primate Bramhall, vehemently suspected this to be a trick 
of the same nature ; and being confirmed in that opinion by some discourse with 
Mr. Belling, advised him to take some course to have the two priests forthcoming, 
Mr. Belling prevailed with their superior to send for the two priests ; and the Earl 
of Fingall waited upon the lords justices to desire a protection for them, with regard 



466 VINDICI^ HIBERNIC^. 

to their function, but not to extend to the letter, or any other crime wherewith 
they might be charged. The lords justices seemed well pleased with the motion, 
but forbore to grant the protection desired ; some of the council saying, ' that 
matters of this nature ought not to be minced ; that such a protection was not fit to 
be granted ; and that they were no friends to the king who made any objections or 
took measures to prove it a forged letter.' It was a matter of great consequence to 
the whole body of the Irish Roman Catholicks, all their fortunes depending on the 
pleasure of his majesty, who was likely to be estranged from them by unjust repre- 
sentations of their disposition and designs. Dermot came to Dublin on Dec. 20, 
and the next morning presented a petition to the council, complaining of the injury 
done him by the imposture of the forged letter, disavowing its being written by 
himself, or by any other by his directions or privity, and desiring leave, notwith- 
standing his function, to appear before them to justify his innocence ; being read}^ 
to sutler an}' punishment, if he should be found criminal as to that letter, or of any 
thing that might tend to sedition, and the disturbance of his majesty's government 
in any of his dominions.' After a long examination, he was comnytted to the 
custody of an officer ; and the next day Phejan appearing, Mr. Belling went with 
him to the council, who having examined him, committed him in like manner, 
upon his denying he had ever received any such letter." — Cakte, II. 238-240. 



Falsehood, hypocrisy, and perjury of Charles II., when, to tvin the 
favour and support of the Scotch, he subscribed and su'orc to the 
solemn league and covenant, on the 16th of August, 1650. 

" His majesty having, upon a full persuasion of the justice, and equity of all the 
heads and articles thereof, now sworn and subscribed the national covenant of the 
kingdom of Scotland, and the solemn league and covenant of the three kingdoms 
of Scotland, England, and Ireland, doth declare that he hath not sworn and sub- 
scribed those covenants, and entered into the oath of God, with his people upon 
any sinister intention, and crooked design, &c., in order to which he doth profess 
and declare, that he will have no enemies, but the enemies of the covenant ; and 
therefore he doth now detest and abhor all poperj-, superstition, and idolatry, toge- 
ther with prelacy, &c., and resolves not to tolerate, much less allow, of those in 
any part of his majesty's dominions, but to oppose himself thereto, and to endea- 
vour the extirpation thereof to the utmost of his power. His majesty is convinced 
in conscience of the exceeding great sinfulness, and the unlawfulness of that treaty 
and peace (1C48) made with the bloody Irish rebels, &c., and of allowing unto 
them the liberty of the popish religion ; for which he doth desire in his heart to be 
deeply humbled before the Lord, &c., doth declare the same to be void ; and that 
he should have sought unto so unlawful help for the restoring of him to his throne, 
and resolving for the time to come rather to suffer affliction than sin." — Uislorical 
J^lemoirs of the Irish Itebeltion, 130, 131. 



Deplorable and disgraceful Intolerance.* 

" The solemn league and covenant for reformation and defence of re- 
ligion, and the honour and happiness of the king* and the peace and 

— ."»>© @ ®«« •— 

* Among the deadly sins charged against the Roman Catholics, are their extreme 
intolerance and spirit of persecution. 1 his document, except so far as capita! 
punishments are concerned, equals the spirit of the Inquisition, and the annals of 
England from Henry VIII., down to the close of the reign of Charles II., are 
replete with capital punishments on account of supposed heresies. Arians, Baptists, 
and Roman Catholics, were immolated on the altar of persecution. 'J'hat the 
number was not very considei-able, does not affect the question. If it be lawful to 
put one man to death for heresy or schism, it is lawful to sacrifice ten thousand. 



APPENDIX. 467 

safety of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 
Feb. 9, 1643. 

" We, noblemen, barons, knights, gentlemen, citizens, burgesses, ministers of 
the gospel, and commons of all sorts in the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and 
Ireland, by the providence of God, living under one king, and being of one re- 
formed religion, having before our eyes the glory of God, and the advancement of 
the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the honour and happiness of 
the king's majesty and his posterity, and the true publick liberty, safety and peace 
of the kingdoms, wherein every one's private condition is included. * * * • 
We have (now at last) after other means of supplication, remonstrance, protesta- 
tions, and suflerings for the preservation of ourselves and our religion, from utter 
ruin and destruction, according to the commendable practice of these kingdoms in. 
former times, and the example of God's people in other nations, after mature deli- 
beration, resolved and determined to enter into a mutual and solemn league and 
covenant, wherein we all subscribe, and each one of us for himself, with our hands 
lifted up to the most high God, do swear, 

" That we shall, without respect of persons, endeavour the extirpation of popery, 
prelacy, (that is, church-government by archbishops, bishops, their chancellors and 
commissaries, deans, deans and chapters, archdeacons, and all other ecclesiastical 
officers depending on that hierarchy) superstition, heresie, schism, profaneness, 
and whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound doctrine and the power of 
Godliness, lest we partake in other men's sins, and thereby be in danger to receive 
of their plagues ; and that the Lord may be one, and his name one in the three 
kingdoms. 

" We shall with the same sincerity, reality, and constancy, in our several voca- 
tions, endeavour with our estates and lives, mutually to preserve the rights and 
privileges of the parliaments, and the liberties of the kingdoms, and to preserve and 
defend the king's majesty's person and authority, in the preservation and defence of 
the true religion and liberties of the kingdoms, that the world may bear witness 
with our consciences of our loyalty, and that we have no thoughts or intentions to 
diminish his majesty's just power and greatness." — Rushavokth, v. 478. 



Gross and flagrant misrepresentation, audits triumphant refutation, 
by Dr. Warner. 

" The lord lieutenant presented to the house a letter from the j ustices, of the 5th Nov. 
1641, showing, that the rebels there do proceed in their rebellion, and have seized 
on the houses, estates, and persons of divers men and women of good quality, and 
have murdered many. That they are in several parts of Ireland gathered, to the 
number of 30,000, and threaten that they will not leave an English protestant there ; 
and that they v/ill not lay down their arms, until an act of parliament be passed for 
freedom of their religion." — Nalson, II. 624. 

" The lord keeper hath said, ' that the rebels have already committed divers mur- 
ders,' and the lord lieutenant, besides, affirming, ' that they had information of 
shedding much blood of the protestants there ;' added moreover, ' that the design of 
the rebels was to kill the lords justices and all the king's privy council.' Whereas, 
neither in the letters, nor in the examinations, is there a single word of any murder 
being then committed ; nor was there the least thought among the conspirators, for 
any thing that appears, of killing particularly the lords justices and all the king's 
privy council : and the council in their letter, after giving an account of several rob- 
beries, burning houses and villages, and seizing some forts and castles, expressly 
say, ' and this though too much, is all that we yet have heard is done by them.' " — 
Warner, 90. 



INDEX, 



Act of attainder against one hundred and 

two persons, 46. 
Act of indemnity, deceptious, 137. 
Acts of attainder, iniquity of, 46. 
Analogy between the conduct of the 

Long parHamentand the leaders of the 

French Eevolution, 222. 
Analysis of the sham conspiracy in 1641, 

247, 263, 
Anniversary sermons in Ireland, perni- 
cious tendency of, 20. 
Antrim, earl, perfidiously taken prisoner, 

279. 
Antrim's estate bestowed on Sir John 

Clotworthy for a mere trifle, 370. 
Archbishop of Dublin, a mitred ruffian, 

200. 
Barlow, Mary, testimony of, 331. 
Barnewall, Sir Christopher, put to the 

rack, 281. 
Barrymore, earl of, cruel execution by, 

352. 
Baskerville, E., deposition of, 334. 
Beal's sham plot for the destruction of 

108 members of parliament, 227. 
Bedlow, William, character of, 234. 
Bedlow, flagrant perjury of, 238. 
Betagh, Francis, case of, 371. 
Birne, John, deposition of, 329. 
Boroughs, fraudulent erection of, 155, 

156. 
Bourk, Richard, deposition of, 327. 
Bribery of Judges by Charles I., and 

Wentworth, 167. 
Bribery and corruption, 368. 
Burglary, sacrilegious, at a Catholic cha- 
pel, 196. 
Butler, dame, deposition of, 327. 
Byrne, Pheagh Mac Hugh, depredation 

on, 212. 
Camden, absurd accusation by, 60. 
Cannibalism in Ireland, 80, 81. 
Carew, Sir George, forgery of, 90. 
Carew, Sir George, hires a murderer to 

assassinate Fitzthomas, 90. 



Carleton's, bishop, narrative of the dis- 
covery of the sham plot of Tyrone and 
Tyrconnel, 122. 

Carmick, John, deposition of, 330. 

Carte, partiality and injustice of, 134. 

Carte, gross obliquity of, 159, 172. 

Carte, inconsistency and errors of, 200. 

Cashel, cathedral of, massacre in, 351. 

Catelin chosen member for Dublin, 
160. 

Catholic archbishops, bishops, &c. liable 
to be hanged, 381. 

Catholic chapels seized, and one razed to 
the ground, 202. 

Catholics charged with fabricating the 
solemn league and covenant, 231. 

Catholics, confederate, orders given by, 
300. 

Catholics excluded from parish vestries, 
399. 

Catholics of Ireland, plan for the exter- 
mination of the, 267, 268. 

Catholics forbidden to purchase any of 
the forfeited estates, 386. 

Catholics not allowed to possess horses 
above five pounds value, 383. 

Catholics not allowed to lend money on 
mortgage, 384. 

Catholics, numerous disqualifications of, 
386, 7, 8. 

Catholics obliged to contribute double to 
the support of the militia, 385. 

Catholics precluded from education, 388. 

Catholic priests, cruel regulations re- 
specting, 381. 

Catholic priests liable to be transported, 
if officiating out of their proper pa- 
rishes, 382. 

Catholic priests liable to be hanged for 
marrying a Protestant and Catholic, or 
two Protestants, 382, 394. 

Catholic priests liable to imprisonment 
for not revealing secrets of the confes- 
sional, 394. 

Catholics prohibited from burying their 



59 



470 



INDEX. 



dead in the grare yards of suppressed 
convents, 385. 

Catholics prohibited from serving on 
juries in cases under the popery laws, 
385. 

Catholics prohibited from acting as guar- 
dians, 385. 

Catholics prohibited from acting as ma- 
gistrates, 386. 

Catholics robbed of their arms, 387. 

Catholic soldiers and sailors, oppression 
of, 398. 

Cattle rarely housed in Munster, 404. 

Cessation of hostilities, clamour against 
the, 302, 3, 4. 

Champion, Elizabeth, deposition of, 335. 

Chapel, Roman Catholic, sacrilegious 
outrage perpetrated at, 202. 

Chapel, Charity^ deposition of, 330. 

Character of the Irish favourable, 115, 
116. 

Charles I.'s contract with the Irish, 144. 

Charles I., obduracy of, 185. 

Charles I., perfidy of, 145, 6, 154. 

Charles I.'s attempt to force his religion 
on the Scotch, 219. 

Charles I., remarks on the character of, 
194. 

Charles II., ingratitude and perfidy of, 
364, 5, 6. 

Chesterfield, lord, character of his admi- 
nistration, 386. 

Chichester, lord, rapacity of, 66. 

China, conquest of, by the Tartars, 25. 

Civil wars in Scotland, Ireland, and Eng- 
land, view of the, 219. 

Clanrickarde, letter from, respecting the 
Connaught gentlemen, 175. 

Clanrickarde, loyalty and energy of, 277. 

Clarendon, gross errors of, 211. 

Clerk, John, deposition of, 328. 

Climate of Ireland, mildness of the, 404. 

Clontarfe, depredations and slaughter at, 
285. 

Coblerof Aggavvam in America, 357. 

Coin basely adulterated by Queen Eliza- 
beth, 84. 

Cole, Sir William, starves 7000 " of the 
vulgar sort," 352. 

Conditions of Limerick, perfidious viola- 
tion of the, 380. 

Confiscations, enormous, of the Irish 
estates, 370. 

Confiscation of ten millions of acres, plan 
for the, 270. 

Connaught, landed proprietors in, hard 
case of the, 165, 175. 

Connaught, iniquitous claims to, 165. 

Connaught in tranquillity till December, 
1641, 262. 

Connaught, plantation of, planned by 
James I., 133. 



Connaught, Strafford's project for the 

plantation of, 165. 
Connaught, nefarious attempts to i?pread 

the insurrection in, 277, 278. 
Conquered countries, view of the state of, 

25. 
Conspiracy, sham, in 1641, full account 

of, 248-53. 
Constable, Joan, deposition of, 322. 
Cooke, Catherine, deposition of, 321. 
Coote, Charles, a ferocious monster, 262, 

280. 
Coote, Charles, deposition of, 332. » 

Counterfeit letters an engine of state in 

the reign of Elizabeth, 61. 
Courcye, an Irish nobleman, assassinat- 
ed, 91. 
Court of Wards, oppression of, 216, 217. 
Courts Martial, bloody operations of, 279. 
Court Martial, sentence of, against Lord 

Mountnorris, 182. 
Cox, Richard, slaughters by, 352. 
Creighton, Alexander, deposition of, 327. 
Creighton, George, deposition of, 321. 
Cromwell, hypocrisy of, 349. 
Cromwell, Oliver, horrible massacre by, 

349. 
Cromwell's tribunals for the trial of the 

Irish, 361. 
Cromwellians, rapacity and injustice of, 

360. 
Crosby, Sir Piers, hard case of, 162. 
Cruelties of the Irish, inquiry respecting 

the, 312. 
Culm, Arthur, deposition of, 330. 
Curry's application to Hume, 316. 
Dangerfield, Hume's character of, 239. 
Davies, Sir John, his testimony in favour 

of the Irish, 115. 
Davies, Sir John, scandalous chicanery 

of, 128, 9. 
Davies, Sir John, chicanery of, 156. 
Defective titles, act for remedying, 154. 
De la Hide, Walter, and wife, cruel 

treatment of, 89. 
Depositions of impossibilities, 321. 
Depredation and rapine perpetrated by 

the government forces in Ireland, 

70-9. 
Depredations on the Irish, 133, 136. 
Desmond's estate, confiscation of, 46. 
Desmond, case of Gerald Fitzgerald, earl 

of, 56. 
Desmond, case of James, earl of, 47. 
Desmond, lamentable death of, 61. 
Desmond, case of Thomas, earl of, 48, 
Desolation and slaughter perpetrated in 

Scotland by the earl of Sussex, 117. 
Desolation of the Desmond estates, 55, 

58. 
Desolation perpetrated in Ireland, by the 

government forces, 72, 73, 74, 75. 



INDEX. 



471 



Discord fomented among the Irish, 36. 

Divide et impera, the English poHcy in 
Irelarjd, 65. 

Dogs attack passengers to devour them, 
342. 

Drogheda, massacre at, 348. 

Ecclesiastical despotism of Strafford, 179, 
180. 

English rapine in Ireland, stated to pope 
John XXII., 43. 

Essex, earl of, massacre perpetrated by, 
92. 

Exaggeration, extravagant, 307. 

Exaggerations, horrible, 312, 13, 14. 

Extermination of the Catholics of Ireland, 
plan for the, 267. 

Falsehoods, gross, of Temple, Clarendon, 
&c., 208. ■ 

Famine, horrible, in Ireland, 80, 81. 

Faulkland, lord, base trick of, 144. 

Faulkland, persecuting proclamation of, 
198. 

Fermeny, Margaret, deposition of, 331. 

Fines, enormous, levied on the Irish re- 
cusants, 197. 

Fines, ruinous, imposed by Strafford, 
179. 

Fitzgeralds, six, basely entrapped and 
betrayed, 87. 

Fitzwilliam, deputy, perfidy and cruelty 
of, 88. 

Fleetvfood, T., deposition of, 327. 

Forbes, lord, ferocious and brutal con- 
duct of, 278. 

Forgery, plots, perjury, and imposture, 
age of, 225. 

Frankland, Owen, deposition of, 327. 

Fullerton, E., deposition of, 334, 

Geare, James, deposition of, 321. 

Ghosts standing in a river for six weeks 
screaming for revenge, 32!, 2, 3. 

Gold mine in Ireland, account of, 408. 

Governmental depredations on the Irish, 
171-174. 

Graces, solemn contract for the, 144. 

Graces, details of the, 146-151. 

Green, Elizabeth, deposition of, 333. 

Grenville, Richard, a barbarous ruffian, 
348. 

Grey, lord, a ruthless destroyer, 64. 

Grey, lord, base perfidy of, 87. 

Gurmond, king of Great Britain, fabu- 
lous tales of, 98. 

Havoc, horrible, perpetrated by the En- 
glish, in France, Spain, and Flanders, 
118. 

Hearsay evidence, 323. 

Higgins, Fr., perfidious murder of, 280. 

Historical writing, advantages of, 25. 

Historical writing, abuses of, 25. 

History of Ireland, corruption and false- 
hood of, 16. 



Hollis, Jervase, expelled the house of 
commons, 221. 

House of lords in Ireland, how managed 
in former times, 97. 

Hume deserving of severe censure, 316. 

Hume, evasive letter of, 316. 

Hume, gross misrepresentation of, 126. 

Hume, sound maxim of, 163. 

Hypocrisy and canting of Oliver Crom- 
well, 349. 

Inchiquin, a sanguinary ruffian, 345, 

Indictment, about 1000 bills of, found in 
two days, 294. 

Indictments, definition of, 294. 

Indi<:tments, 1 1 00 bills of, found in Cork 
and Waterford, 295. 

Informers, malediction on, 392. 

Inquisitors, proper punishment of, 102. 

Insurgents, submissions of, rejected, 
2S9. 

Insurrection confined to Ulster, 261. 

Insurrection in 1641, view of the, 247. 

Ireland, conquest of, fatal to the happi- 
ness of the natives, 25. 

Ireland devoured by swarms of hungry 
adventurers, 29. 

Ireland, dreadful state of, 19, 29. 

Ireland, excellent soil of, 402, 3, 4. 

Ireland, fisheries of, 408. 

Ireland, great national advantages of, 
401, 

Ireland, harbours, rivers, and lakes of, 
405. 

Ireland, horrible grievances of, 418, 19. 

Ireland, mines and minerals of, 406. 

Ii-eland, final subjugation of, by Crom- 
well, 360. 

Ireland, picture of the oppression of, 
379. 

Ireland, soil of, more cultivated than that 
of France, 402. 

Ireland, sufferings of, 40. 

Irish administrations, detestable policy of, 
25, 26. 

Irish character, scandalous libels on the, 
114, 15. 

Irish character, honourable testimonies ot 
the, 115. 

Irish, defence of the, 225, 26. 

Irish driven into Connaught, 360. 

Irish deputies, arbitrary power of the, 
34. 

Irish, execrable treatment of the, 365, 
6, 7. 

Irish, from 5 to 8000, debarred of all op- 
portunity of proving their innocence, 
367, 8. 

Irish history, difficulty of writing, 21-3. 

Irish legislation, horrible, sketch of, 
26-9. 

Irish ordered to return to Connaught, 
369. 



472 



INDEX. 



Irish, outrageous tyranny exercised upon 

the, 222. 
Irish parliament, horrible injustice of, 

370. 
Irish rivers and harbours, superior to 

those of England, 406. 
Irish supplicate for the benefit of the 

English law, 33. 
Irish, horrible destruction of the, 31. 
Irish wars, cost of, to Queen Elizabeth, 

32. 
Irishman, murder of, punishable only by 

fine, 26. 
Ireton, barbarous order of, 3.50. 
Italians and Spaniards, seven hundred 

perfidiously slaughtered at Smerwick, 

by order of Lord Grey, 76. 
James I. courts the friendship of the 

Catholic princes, 204. 
James I., flagrant injustice of, 158. 
James I., pedantic and ridiculous speech 

of, 1.57, 
James I., perfidy of, 204. 
James I., predatory system of, 120, 133. 
James I., rapacity and depredation of, 

134. 
James II., abdication of, did not extend 

to Ireland, 373. 
James of Hacketstown, deposition of, 

328. 
Jones, Jane, deposition of, 327. 
Judges, bribery of, by Charles I., and 

Wentworth, 167. 
Juries, corruption of, 167. 
Juries, perjured, proceedings of, 397. 
Kelly, Dennis, deposition of, 328. 
Lauderdale and archbishop Sharpe, per- 
secutions by, 102. 
League and covenant for extirpation of 

poperj', prelacy, and superstition, 

24, 
Leitrim and Longford, James I.'s rapine 

in, 133. 
Leland, Dr., inconsistency and errors of, 

315. 
Leland, gross misrepresentation, and par- 

tiahty of, 127, 134. 
Leland, miserable folly of, 335. 
Letters dropped in the streets, 244. 
Letters forged, to terrify the Protestants, 

243. 
Limerick, siege of, 374. 
Limerick, surrender and conditions of, 

374. 
Loftus, Adam, Lord Ely, hard case of, 

18.5, 6. 
Lords justices, nefarious views of the, 

272. 
Lords justices, wicked proceedings of the, 

281, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 293, 297." 

Lords of the pale, banished from Dublin, 

282, 3. 



Louis XIV., detested for the desolation 

of the Palatinate, 72. 
Lucas, William, deposition of, 329. 
Ludlow, General, barbarity of, 346. 
Mac Mahon, cruel murder of, 88. 
Mac Mahon, Hugh, put to the rack, 281. 
Macauley, Mrs., monstrous exaggerations 

of, 315. 
Magee, slaughter at the island of, 355. 
Man's belly ripped out without bleeding, 

.321. 
Manures abundant in Ireland, 403. 
Marriages of Protestants celebrated by a 

Catholic priest, declared null and void, 

386. 
Martial law in force in Ireland in time of 

peace, 34, 35. 
Massacre of 1641, fabulous account of 

the, 307. 
Massacre of the Irish, 92, 339. 
Massacre of 1641, pretended, statements 

of the, 307, 8. 
Massacre pretended, investigation of the, 

309, 10. 
Maxwell, dean Eobert, deposition of, 

322, 3, 4. 
Maxwell, dean Robert, a perjurer, 322, 

325. 
Men, women, and children put to the 

sword, 345. 
Millions of acres, ten, plan for the con- 
fiscation of, 270. 
Milton, gross exaggeration of, 20. 
Milton's works, extract from, 21. 
Mines and minerals of Ireland, list of, 

406. 
Misery of the Irish after the Munstcr 

war, 80. 
Money, change in the value of, 105. 
Montgomery, John, deposition of, 329. 
Montross, barbarous exploits of, 353. 
Moor, Francis, plot of, 227. 
Mountjoy, lord, a mail robber, 85. 
Mountnorris, lord, hard case of, 181, 2, 

3, 4. 
Mountnorris, lady, affecting letter of, 

184. 
Munchausen stories, 331, 2, 3, 4. 
Munster, commencement of the insurrec- 
tion in, 273. 
Munster in tranquillity till Dec. 1641, 

261. 
Murder of an Irishman only punishable 

by fine, 26. 
Murder of Irishmen legalized by act of 

parliament, 27. 
Muskerry, lord, ofiers to raise troops to 

suppress the insurgents, 274. 
" Nits will be lice," quoted from Nalson, 

339. 
Norman conquest of England, view of 

the, 25. 



INDEX. 



473 



Nugent, baron, execution of, 63. 
Gates, Titus, character of, 234, 6. 
Gates, Titus, plot of, 234, 5, 6. 
G'Brien, Patrick, deposition of, 331. 
G'Conally, Owen, examination of, 249. 
G'Moores and O'Connors, case of, 64. 
O'Neii, Sir Phelim, exaggerated accounts 

of his cruelty, 356. 
O'Neii, Sir Phelim, vindication of, 354. 
G'Nial, Shane, case of, 65, 66, 67, 68, 

69. 
G'Nial, calumnious accusations of, 71. 
Orders of the confederate Catholics, 300. 
Ordinance, sanguinary, of the British 

parliament, 299. 
Ormond, directions to, from the lords 

justices, 289. 
Ormond, duke of, probably concerned in 

bribery, 368. 
Ormond, duke of, remarks on, 359. 
Orrery's testimony against Charles II., 

and his ministers, 365. 
Orrery, lord, flagitious proceedings of, 

296. 
Pardon, offers of, fallacious, 288. 
Parkinson, William, deposition of, 327. 
Parliamentary record of infamy, 159. 
Parliamentary representation, corruption 

of, in Ireland, 94, 5, 155. 
Parliament, abuses of, in Ireland, 93, 4, 

5, 6, 
Parliament, Irish, packed by Sussex, 103. 
Parliament, Irish, wicked proceedings of, 

150. 
Parliament, Long, folly of the, 221. 
Parliament, privileges of, violated, 162. 
Parliament, wicked adjournment of, 286. 
Perjurers, suborned to swear away the 

iives'and estates of the innocent, 226. 
Perrot, Sir John, a kidnapper, 47, 84. 
Persecuting spirit of the seventeenth 

century, 24. 
Persecution of Catholics recommended by 

the Protestant clergy, 205. 
Persecution of the Roman Catholics in 

Ireland, how established, 94. 
Persecution, outrageous, 196. 
Persons harbouring Catholic bishops, 

archbishops, &c. liable to forfeit their 

estates, 389. 
Persons murdered in cold blood, 345;-. 348^ 

3.53. f"-\ 

Petty, Sir William, testimony of, respect- 
ing the war of 1641, ^08. ^ 
Perrot's barbarous project forme dcstrur- 

tion of the Irish bards, m^onks, friars, 

Sec, 79. 
Pimps, spies, and informers, hosts of,-dc 



Plot for the destruction of Oliver Crom- 
well, 233. 

Plot, sham, contrived to destroy Shane 
O'Nial, 67. 

Plot, sham, for the destruction of Charles 
I., 239. 

Plot, sham, for the massacre of the Pro- 
testants in 1670, 343. 

Plot, sham, of Habernfield, 232. 

Plots to cover the Irish with obloquy, 
240, 241. 

Plots, sham, of the popes, cardinals, and 
Jesuits, 231. 

Plot, sham, of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, 
119. 

Plunket, Oliver, victim of Shaftesbury's 
wickedness, 242. 

Pope, forged letter of the, 230, 

Popery, laws to prevent the growth of, 
379. 

Popery laws, state of, in 1812, 393. 

Popery laws, robbery the object of the, 
391. 

Popery, barbarous laws to prevent the 
growth of, 391. 

Poynings' Law, object of, 163. 

President and Little Belt, rencontre be- 
tween the, 22. 

Priests hang themselves in their own de- 
fence, 204. 

Prisoners, ferocious treatment of, 239. 

Protest against the violation of the con- 
ditions of Limerick, 380. 

Protestant ascendency, insidious arts of, 
21. 

Protestant ascendency sell Ireland for the 
power of tyrannizing over the Catho- 
lics, 379. 

Protestant ministers, scandalous ignor- 
ance of, 112. 

Protestant women forfeited their estates 
if they married Catholics, 384. 

Protestant religion, ill administered in 
Ireland, at the time of the reformation, 
110, 11. 

Proxies in the Irish house of lords, 97. 

Quarters refused to prisoners, 344. 

Rack, used by the lords justices to extort 
confessions, 281. 

Rapacity of the Irrst English settlers in 
Ireland, 131. 

Rebellion not general till the month of 
December, 269. 

Recusants fined for non-attendance at 

• . church, L96. 

l^e^, Sir John, j5ut to the rack, 281. 
^Keligiolfe, persecution deserving of the 

*" curse of God and man, 101. 



predating on the Irish, 211. 



^ft^igi<tiis persecution in England and 



Plantations in Ireland, horrible injustice \ • «^oliand, remarks on, 102 

mgifcus 



of, 164, 
Plot for destruction of certain lords, 228 



Kengi) 
Irelai 



persecution, 

. •lo;i-, ^ 



how established in 



474 



INDEX. 



Religious persecution in Ireland, odious 

features of, 104, 5, 6. 
Religious persecution the real Anti-christ, 

103. 
Roads, materials for, in Ireland, 409. 
Robbery, atrocious case of, 391. 
Robbery of parents sanctioned by law, 

389,'90. 
Roman conquests, view of the, 25. 
Rupert, prince, manly conduct of, 347. 
Sacrilegious robbery of churches, 109. 
Sanguinary orders of the lords justices, 

297, 8. 
Sarsfield, Patrick, gallant exploit of, 374. 
Scotch, brotherly assistance of the, 220. 
Scotch, oppression of, in Ireland, by 

Strafford, 178. 
Scotch prisoners sent to work the mines 

in Guinea, 221. 
Scotch resist Charles I., 220. 
Scroggs, Judge, infamous conduct of, 

239. 
Shales, William, sham plot of, 229. 
Shane O'Nial, act for the attainder of, 

98. 
Shaw, James, deposition of, 322. 
Sheriffs, oppression and violence of, 35. 
Skeffington, deputy, baseness and cruelty 

of, 89. 
Soil of Ireland superior to that of Eng- 
land, 402. 
Solemn league and covenant charged on 

the Catholics, 231. 
Spencer, the poet, barbarous project of, 

82. 
Stanhaw, Christian, deposition of, 329. 
Stewart, Jane, deposition of, 328. 
St. Leger, a barbarous and sanguinary 

rutfian, 273, 4. 
Strafford, base falsehood of, 153. 
Strafford, character of, 177. 190, 191, 

192, 193, 194. 
Strafford, view of the proceedings respect- 
ing him, 45. 
Strafford, sham plot in favour of, 229, 



Stuart dynasty a "curse and scourge to 

Ireland, 373. 
Submissions of the insurgents, rejected, 

289. 
Swanley, captain, drowns his Irish pri- 
soners, 344. 
Sydney, Henry, pays the assassin of 

O'Nial, 70. 
Sydney, Henry, tyranny of, 38. 
Temple, ashamed of his history, 314. 
Temple's legends, sketches of, 319. 
Tichbourne, H., a sanguinary ruffian, 342. 
Tillotson, archbishop, extract from, 391. 
Trick, base, of Lord Mountjoy, 85. 
Tyrone and Tyrconnel, sham plot against, 

119, 20, 21. 
Uffort, chief justice, rapine and tyranny 

of, 48. 
Usher, archbishop, persecuting spirit of, 

205. 
Ulster, rules for the plantation of, 124, 

125. 
Volunteering in Ireland, salutary effects 

of, 381. 
Wales, conquest of, remarks on the, 25. 
Warfare, barbarous system of, pursued 

by the government forces, 337, 8, 9, 

340, 341. 
Warner, Ferdinando, his account of the 

pretended massacre, 310. 
V/arner, Ferdinando, gross inconsistency 

of, 310, 311. 
Warwick, earl of, drowns his Irish pri- 
soners, 343. 
Wentworth, chicanery of, 168. 
Wentworth, flagrant injustice of, 161, 

107, 170, 171, 2, 3, 4. 
Wentworth, tyranny of, 171, 178, 179, 

184, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. 
Wentworth, Machiavelian policy of, 160. 

See Strafford. 
Wexford, horrible massacre at, 350. 
Women slaughtered by the parliament 

forces, 353. 
Wood's copper coin, effects of, 37^ 













INDEX TO THE APPENDIX. 



Vindication of small farmers, peasantry, 
and labourers of Ireland, 423. 

Daniel O'Connell, letter to, from Lord 
Radnor, 424. 

Daniel O'Connell, letter respecting, from 
Lord Shrewsbury, 424. 

Daniel O'Connell, dedication to, 425. 

Peasantry of Ireland, erroneous opinions 
respecting the, 426. 

Travellers, cursory, fallacious opinions 
of, 426. 

Irish disturbances, caused by grinding 
oppression, 427. 

Commissioners to investigate the situa- 
tion of Ireland, 427. 

Patience, forbearance, and resignation of 
the Irish poor, 431. 

Female chastity, highly prized ; its vio- 
lation less frequent than in other 
countries, 433. 



Charity to persons poorer than them- 
selves, 436. 

Outrages, when they take place, general- 
ly the result of grievous oppression, 437. 

Distress, the cause of mendicancy, 438. 

Absentees, 439. 

Ireland, the state of, in 1837, 440. 

Opinions of Baron Penefather, Chief 
Justice Doherty, and others, 441. 

The legendary massacre of 1641, 442. 

Lord Castlehaven, case of, 443. 

Tomlinson against Farrell, 444, 

Oppressions and rapine perpetrated on 
the Irish, 450. 

Pleadings of Counsel on the Violation of 
the Articles of Limerick, 458. 

Flagrant forgery and perjury, 465. 

Falsehood and hypocrisy of Charles II,, 
466, 

Disgraceful intolerance, 466. 



THE END. 



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